Himiwara Hill
by atlantis711
Summary: A few years down the road,Mai is in college and still with SPR. They have a new case which involves ghosts, gods, and a new evil. Will SPR be able to solve the case in time? or will the new evil capture their souls forever?
1. Midnight

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost hunt. If I did, I probably would have uploaded the complete manga by now.

***

Squiggly images faced her on the board. Ominously , the black writing continued to form letters, then words, then numbers- draining away all her energy. There were noises coming from all over the room. The furious scratching and rubbing on the tables and chairs. The whispering of voices. One particular monotonous voice kept repeating itself in her head, making her all the more exhausted as it continued, until it got louder, and louder, and…

"Taniyama-san! IF YOU HAVE TIME TO DAZE OFF IN CLASS, THEN YOU BETTER BE GETTING AN A ON THE NEXT PHYSICS TEST, OR SO HELP YOU! READ THE NEXT EXAMPLE."

Mai snapped her head up, feeling like a jolt of electricity going through her. Her blood pressure shot to her brain, as she furiously turned to the example 27.4 and read outloud:

"Light refraction and reflection may occur at the same time, depending on the densities of the medium. For example, if you were to reflect light off glass or water, the light color may change, and become refracted…"

_**College Physics Night class, 10:45 p.m.**_

The whispers she heard turned into scattered giggles. People stopped writing on their notebooks to stare at her. Mai sighed heavily, '_here we go again…I love making a fool of myself in class, well it will be only a couple more minutes until…' _

The professor stopped his writing on the board. The noise of zippers opening and closing started to begin, as books were shoved sloppily into their backpacks. The professor glanced at the clock quickly, then faced the class.

"Okay, we'll stop here, let's continue on chapter 27 with light convergence and divergence. Please have homework done numbers one through twenty-eight by this friday. Class dismissed."

He gave a small glance around to Mai and smiled slightly.

She inwardly groaned. Here we go.

"Taniyama-san, I know it's late, but see me in my office hours after class, I need to speak with you about your last exam."

Funeral music started to play in her head. She got her backpack and books and trudged behind him to his office. Mai was now 20 yrs old, and she had just started going to night college. Although college was similar to high school- she was still seeing teachers after school for who knows what. Like today.

_Yay! Another reprimanding from professor Wang._ He was in his fifties, with huge nerd glasses, and with a small build. He had a sharp Chinese accent, so it was nearly impossible for her to understand him unless she sat in front of class. Because she was in a class only of 15 students, it was easier for her to get a front seat, only to stare at Wang for almost 2 hours a day, 3 days a week.

Physics went through one ear and out the other as she stared at the board, she constantly looked at the clock behind her as she counted the T-minus however many minutes she had left. During these times she found herself focusing on his red bow tie, and his white button up shirt that he ALWAYS wore to class. If she had been in a better position, she would have counseled him in the diversification of clothes. "haha like someone else I know, who just LOVES to wear black," she thought to herself.

Suddenly, Wang glared at her disapprovingly. Oops, she had lost her focus again.

"Taniyama-san, your grades are getting steadily lower, you are scoring in the 40s now and the only thing you are truly getting points on is attendance." He eyed her closely, lowering his voice. "Do you have any personal issues that have been making your scores so low? Your work schedule may be too heavy?..."

Mai looked at clock on the desk.

_11:35 p.m._

Shit. Speaking of work schedule, she was supposed to arrive at SPR in about negative 5 minutes. They were going on location to who knows where the next morning, and Mai had yet to read the case file. New cases for early mornings were piling up. On most nights, this meant making the SPR couch her new bed, which meant she could catch up on reading the case file, which meant she had to leave ASAP.

Well, at least she had an excuse. Naru had been badgering her to come to work on time. It seemed every time something important had made her late, like sleeping.

Well anyway, back to the question: What was she supposed to say? _Yes professor, when I'm not at school I'm ghost hunting in random places, and I barely sleep because I have these premonitions that usually keep me awake all night, to the point that I may or may not pass out the next day. Also, I learn chanting and mantras before coming to class, leaving no time for homework. Physics, for now, is either at a low or insignificant part of my life. _

'Nope, that definitely is not acceptable.' Mai thought to herself. She formulated a quick escape route behind her, as the minutes ticked away.

Mai gulped, which was louder than she had expected, as she looked at the teacher leaning on his office table. Her eyes darted around the room, looking at the walls, at his P.h.D in something related to physics, to her exams piled up neatly on the table, right next to his collection of figurine crystal cranes, and back to Wang. Who the heck collects that amount of crystal cranes? Unbelievable.

"Well, professor, I just have been working odd hours on my job. I promise I will try harder again next time! Don't worry…haha…I definitely will do better! But now I need to get going…my work, you know." Mai started picking up her book bag and slinging it over her shoulder, and stepped backward.

Wang eyed her again, scrutinizing her reaction. "You have work at midnight? I suppose you do work odd hours. However, you will not be passing my class if you keep this up. You should come to my afterschool quiz sessions, they're usually held Thursday afternoons in the biology building room one hundred and-"

"aha…that won't be necessary!" Mai cut in. " I will get private tutoring. I simply can't make it at those hours. Thanks anyway, professor! Anyway, I have to go, I'll see you in class Friday!" Mai ran out before the professor could say another two words.

The sky was particularly cloudy this Wednesday evening , as she rode her bike away from Tokyo's small community college, Himiwara. She sped like a demon on wheels on the dirt path from the school to SPR, rounding the rocky turns as she accelerated down. The school was isolated on a large hill, with a somewhat steep slope, making Mai thank the gods for the extra speed.

The road was hazardous since it was narrow, but the scenery was beautiful as she sped past. Mai always felt the thrill of rushing- no flying down the hill. She looked to her left, and saw how easily it would be for her to fall off. She grinned to herself, as she turned expertly turned on the bike trail down to the main street below.

The air around her went from moist to wet as rain started to sprinkle on her. If Mai had more time, she would have stopped to see the beautiful city lights that surrounded the bottom of Himiwara hill. The place felt so refreshing and a bit mysterious. It was known to mist on Himiwara, giving the place ghostly feel. There was mist forming now, softening the city lights to an eerie glow. To top it off, there were marshes, swamps, and caves scattered around the hill.

'_if only I didn't have work… I would visit Narajara cave._' Mai thought wistfully. The rain pelted her harder, and Mai felt the cold suddenly permeate through her body. '_Maybe not,_' she rebuked herself.

She only had a thin sweater and jeans, which was still not good enough for autumn in Japan. Time to go faster.

Mai had two predictions of what was going to happen in the next 25 minutes. One: she was going to get a degrading comment from Naru, her handsome yet narcissist boss, about being late. Two: she was going to take a nice hot shower. She glanced at her watch on her left wrist.

11:55 p.m.

'_Just in time for a late dinner!'_ Laughed Mai, as she prepared to round another turn. Mai slowed down for the turn slightly, as lightning flashed through the sky. Mai loved lightning, but hated the noise thunder…and it looked like thunder was about to come. White light highlighted the area in front of her in electrifying flashes, surprising Mai at the sudden contrast of color in her vision.

**Boom**.

Something remained behind as the light flashed off. Mai took a sharp intake of air. It was in a transparent shape of a young lady, no taller than Mai herself, with black hair that shadowed over her face. As the thunder flashed again, Mai could make out the ghostly figure's expression: pale sickly skin, with no eyes. Just deep round sockets that had a color darker than any black Mai had ever seen.

**Boom**.

Mai felt a different cold this time, a freezing cold, a kind of cold that squeezes your heart and strangles your lungs. She fought to breathe and felt herself swaying on the bike. The figure was approaching her slowly, floating in a white pale dress, that looked much like a night gown used in the 50s. With her black flowing hair and deep dark sockets coming closer to Mai, she had an aura of malicious intent.

Mai couldn't think. She gave herself completely into her instincts and swerved sharply around the apparition. The figure outstretched her pale transparent hand and brushed Mai's face, as she came past. A nauseous feeling fell upon Mai, right before she completely lost control of her body…Paralysis.

The bike kept going.

Mai had run out of road.

Before she knew it, both her and the bike were freefalling in the air…towards the city below. She was falling face up, terror gripping her. Before Mai closed her eyes, she caught something blue fade into the clouds.

**Boom**.

***

_12:30 a.m._

"The idiot is late. What's new…" Naru mumbled.

He stared at the clock for about the seventeenth time. Naru had been waiting for tea for the last hour and a half, and like any tea-addicted man, he was cranky as hell.

Lin looked up to see the dark haired man on the couch. Naru was now 22 years old, taller and had a bigger build. Naru, also known as Oliver Davis, and Lin had built SPR from scratch. Partners in crime, you might say. However, they were currently missing their secretary/primary investigator, Mai Taniyama. Lin shook his head. This was not like Mai to be this late, and it was also not like Naru to be out of his office. '_Perhaps we should have given Mai a cell phone._ ' Lin thought to himself.

_12:32 a.m._

Naru could not shake off the heavy feeling he got when he thought about Mai. He went over to his office table and picked up the profile for their newest case. A letter had been sent to Naru that morning, stating the general details of the situation. Naru re-read the case file, like any workaholic, tried to eliminate any factors for the case to not be supernaturally related.

To S_hibuya Psychic Research, _

_My name is Lee Wong, and I currently reside in a mansion near Himiwara hill. I am an investigator of numerous accidents that have been caused on here the past year. There have been several sightings of a 'white lady' stepping in front of cars and moving vehicles. We believe her to be a dangerous spirit, since she exhibits intent of killing and harming the people in the vehicles. There have been seven accidents so far, all people in these accidents have died. We have the case files for all seven at the mansion, lodging and food will be provided if you decide to take the case. Please let me know as soon as possible, and we greatly appreciate your help._

_Sincerely,_

_Lee Wong_

'_Hmm…Himiwara is close to the Chinese district here in Japan.'_ Naru voiced to himself. '_Lin would probably be able to translate and decipher any cultural symbols if we come across them.'_

Lin had already started to type away at his Mac in one of the desks. He had already phoned Mr. Wong about their acceptance of the case, and was making arrangements of room and board, as well as getting a map.

Naru had called Ayako, the miki who could harness the power of trees, which was useful since Himiwara was mostly forest and marsh lands. Also, John, the priest , was needed for exorcising demons, and Takigawa for exorcising and protective wards. Masako, the famous television psychic, was called as well to locate the spirits, if there were any. They were all to arrive tomorrow morning at 9 a.m.

Naru scanned the pictures of Himiwara hill again. There was something oddly familiar about the place, what was it? He was forgetting something…he knew it. He ran his fingers through his hair absentmindedly. Naru quickly scanned through pictures of the marshlands, several caves, and heavily forested areas. He stopped abruptly on the last picture. It showed a concrete building near the edge of a cliff, with a small bike trail. The area was labeled with a small a white sticker.

"Himiwara University…"

Naru blinked.

*flashback two weeks ago*

"MAI. Tea." Naru sat at the table, slowly flipping through articles in the newspaper.

Mai closed the door behind her, breathless.

"Sorry I'm late! I'll go make it right away!" Mai hurried to the kitchen preparing the tea, which was Earl Grey, Naru's favorite. She sat it in front of him, and paused. Naru peered over his newspaper to her expecting brown eyes. 'she is still waiting for a thank you,' he smirked, knowing that she will throw a fit about his lack manners.

Mai took a deep breath, surprising Naru about how much air a girl could inhale at once. Maybe this wasn't about the thank you.

"Naru, Iwillbe cominglate thisweek whenweplan togo location inearlymornings. Iwillbe takingclasses at HimiwaraHill University andihave aphysics classlateatnight andi wont behere until 11:30p.m. insteadof comingat eight p.m. Iwant to graduatefromcollege and get adegree inpsychology so maybe icould bemore than asecretary aroundhere."

So she could only say that much in one breath,eh? Naru smiled inwardly. So she wants to be more than a secretary, he could work with that. He also felt a surge of unexplainable feelings that were mixed with Mai striving for a higher education…was it that he was just proud of her?  
_'Of course.'_ Naru explained to himself.

Naru formed a poker face to Mai. "So how is this different from your usual tardiness, idiot? I'll allow it, but you better be here at 11:30, or else…"

Mai brightened immediately. "Thank you Naru! Thank you so much! I'll work harder after class to make up for it!" she exclaimed while giving him a hug. Naru felt like his intestines just pretzel-ed themselves, and his heart was colliding against his rib cage. He swore his cheeks were going to catch on fire from amount of blood rushing to them.'What the hell is this? I must be getting sick. ' Naru thought as he reflexively went stiff in Mai's embrace.

"Anyway Mai, more Tea," Naru cleared his throat, "and make it quick. You're late and I need compensation for the lack of tea this morning."

Mai finally let go of him, and dashed out of his office.

'Himiwara…I hope it's nearby.' Naru sighed as he sat back down again.

*

"Shit."

He made a grab for his phone.

Lin, surprised to hear Naru swearing, gave a quick glance to his colleague. The fleeting look of panic on Naru's usual impassive face was quite a sight to see, even for Lin. _Possible disaster._

As Naru started to dial, he started to bark out orders to Lin.

"Phone Ayako, Takigawa, John, and Masako. We're going on location - Now."

Lin was quite taken aback, but decided to ask questions later. He knew better to than to ask for explanations when Naru was like this. Lin only hoped that this situation had nothing to do with Taniyama-san's disappearance.

He picked up the SPR's main cell phone, the cell phone that had everyone's numbers on speed dial. Before he could dial any numbers though, the phone started to ring.

INCOMING: BOU- SAN.

Bou-san? Oh yes, that's right, Mai renamed everyone on this phone.

Lin pushed the accept call button saying, "hello Takigawa-san, I was just about to call you…"

Naru shot his head up to Lin's response. Takigawa?

"You won't believe this but we just – " Lin's eyes widened slightly, and his hands clenched tightly to the phone. Naru stepped forward towards Lin, sensing the heavy feeling that he had about Mai get even heavier. Again, his heart was colliding against his rib cage, but for totally different reasons.

X

Mai felt sticky. And gross. She needed a shower, pronto. She opened her eyes slowly, her eyelashes sticking together like she had put too much mascara on. _'Or I have some serious pinkeye._' Mai thought to herself.

Mai rubbed her eyes to open them fully. She got some of the sticky material that was on her hands on her eyes as well, but small rays of gray light trickled down through between the canopy leaves of the trees. There was barely any light anyway, the branches and overhang made a kind of umbrella over the area. The forest is so dense here, the trees, with a dark almost black wood, look as if they were bunched together like dark slits. To top it off, there was a foggy haze that enveloped the forest, it was the most problematic. Direction and orientation could be easily lost here. The ground was a dark mess of solid and liquid, with leaves and foliage scattered about. After a second of looking of what was in front of her, she quickly glanced down and realized why she was so sticky.

'_So this is the swamp. Nice, I am now completely camoflauged with the rest of this place'._ She sighed…she was right, her torso had full coverage of what she can only be described as 'dark goo mud.'

_'First things first, let's get out of here.'_ She told herself, her discomfort outweighing any feelings of fear and confusion. She walked in the goo, realizing that the goo was only about 3 feet high. Anything under it was solid earth. Mai felt the ground slope upwards to her left, and got to higher more stable ground.

As she climbed/scrambled out of the ooze, Mai assessed the situation, trying to keep her panic level down. _'Think clearly Mai, what were you doing before…?'_ the haze of the forest was not only around her but also inside her head, clouding her memories. Wasn't it evening?

Mai spotted bookbag that seemed to have fallen a few feet from her, on a semi-solid surface. Mai's feet sunk in the ground with every step, as she slowly made her way to the bag. She reached inside and felt something hard and rectangular- a physics book.

Physics. Professor Wang. Scary white lady with no eyes.

Her memories rushed to her like a hurricane. Mai looked up, and saw a small opening amongst the complete covering canopy of the trees. _That's probably where I fell from Himiwara Hill, Mai thought._The image of the 'white lady' flashed in her mind, and Mai took a sharp intake of breath.

_Calm down, Mai_. She told herself. _She's not here right now, so think of a way out of this place._ Mai went to look at the hole she made through the canopy. She saw the side of the hill, which now looked like a mountain at Mai's point of view. The bike trail was about 200 feet up on the side of the mountain. .Mai looked around for the any pathways that would lead to the bike trail that was up above her. Other than the gray light, there was a misty haze among the trees that made it impossible to see around them. Mai checked her watch.

12:01 a.m.

'_Why is there this gray light, isn't it the middle of the night? Weird. Looks like its Exploration Time with Imminent Death Approaching'_. Mai thought to herself sarcastically.

' _At least I was lucky, to be able to land in this liquid goo, totally saved my life…_' she sighed in relief. She started thanking the gods that saved her. Her thoughts were cut short however, as she heard a quiet, yet familiar voice ring through her ears.

"Get out of here Mai…get out before they trap you! Stay away from the walls…!"

Mai looked fervently around her. Gene…

"GENE!!! Where are you? It's you isn't it? Come out, I need your help! What do you mean stay away from the walls? What walls? Where are they?!" Mai cried.

Suddenly, she felt like she was getting wrapped in rope, a tightening rope. She looked down and the black ooze that had gotten on her skin on her face, arms, and lower half of her body. Her skin was becoming pink and indented where the ooze had stuck to her. _WAIT A MINUTE, IS THIS STUFF ALIVE? I feel a strong pressure underneath it!_

Mai frantically shoved the stuff off as much as possible. Its coldness absorbed in her skin, primarily on her hands.

A panic attack seized Mai, as she ran around looking for Gene. _Any moment, he'll show up. Any moment he'll help me out._ Mai thought to herself. _But this isn't a dream._ Her breath came in irregular spasms. Tears welled up in her eyes, obstructing her vision. A few minutes passed and Mai sank down to her knees in the goo. She had her hands flattened in it, and her head bowed down. She tried to breathe evenly, in and out.

Mai shut her eyes, and remembered there was a technique Naru and Bou-san had taught her a few months ago.

***

"…_So you bow your head like this and try to make your breathing slower. In and out, in and out." Bou-san said as Mai had her last panic attack. She had dreamed she was dying by strangulation, and she had a hard time recovering. _

_Naru gave her a brown bag to breathe in. "Use this, it will help you get your carbon dioxide back and keep you from passing out." Mai took the bag gratefully. Swiftly and gently, Naru took one of his hands to help her hold the bag to her face, and he used his other… to hold Mai's hand._

_It was then Mai started to feel her breath even out, and her body relax, except for her right hand. It remained small and hesitant in Naru's grasp. His hand had felt so warm and comforting, like a cloud had enveloped her with his touch. Her mind became clear. _

Mai's exhaled slowly…In and out…

***

Mai's body relaxed at the memory, it gave her something familiar and pleasant to cling to in this hell hole of a situation. She stopped shaking from her sobs and held her head up. She noticed the black ooze had stopped its squeezing on her, much to her relief.  
At that moment, she heard Gene's voice again. It was as if the wind was breathing around her.

"Don't worry, he's coming for you…"

12:27 a.m.

A small minivan stopped blasted itself along the streets of Japan.

"Here comes the sun, little darling! Here comes the sun! It's alright!" At the wheel was a tall sandy haired blonde that looked like he was ready to go to a rock concert. When he started to sing, no one could stop him- not even the screaming woman next to him.

"Takigawa! WILL YOU PLEASE SHUT UP? I already feel like I'm losing my dinner from your driving, are you going to take my ear drums too?!" Ayako could feel a migraine coming on. She rubbed the sides of her head and slumped herself into the seat. They had just come from a small yet cozy hotel named 'little hokkaido', which was minutes away from Himiwara.

Takigawa glanced down at Ayako, and took one of her hands that was massaging her temple. He gently intertwined his fingers within hers. "Babe, could you just relax for a bit in the car? Stop be so neurotic and just go with the flow of music…IT's alright! Here comes the sun…"

Ayako couldn't help but sigh in defeat. They had been dating for a year now. After so much fighting, they realized how much they meant to each other. But, they were total opposites in every way except for their spiritual abilities. She was a control freak and into science, he was easygoing and into rock. What kind of unholy union was this?

Takigawa squeezed her hand slightly and flashed her a smile. She couldn't help but smile back when he did that, his easy going attitude never failed to overcome her self-made barriers she had with others. Ayako's eyelids started to get heavier and she felt her body floating. Takigawa flashed her another grin.

"Anyway you're just being emotional since it's that time of the month, right?"

_Screeeeeeeeeeech!_

Ayako smacked Takigawa on the head, making Takigawa lose his handling on the minivan. Takigawa tensed up in surprise. "Ayako, please stop I'm driving!" he shifted the cars gears to regain control of the minivan. Ayako, however, was in no mood of stopping her lecture.

"YOU THINK OF EVERY EXCUSE DON'T YOU? WITH YOUR STUPID ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT WOMEN…MAYBE IF YOU DROVE BETTER I-" Ayako was cut short as the van ran over what felt like a wobbly speed bump.

The minivan screeched for a second time, and Ayako and Takigawa turned around to look at what they had run over. The back window was fogged up, making it impossible to see what they had hit. As far as they knew, they were on an empty road in a forested area.

After a few moments of shock, Takigawa was the first to speak. "Let's go check it out." Ayako nodded in agreement as they left the car. The first thing they felt was the biting cold around them, and it looked like it just rained.

"The air seems different here, it makes one feel disorientated." Ayako stated, as she walked with Takigawa.

After a few moments, the fog surrounded them and thickened, making it difficult to see what was in front of them. Takigawa grabbed Ayako's hand.

"Don't want to lose you to weather." He said simply, as he intertwined his fingers with her hand again.

At that instant, Ayako's foot hit something hard. She would have tripped if she Takigawa didn't pull her up to steady her.

"Ouch! Wait hold on, there's something here!" Ayako touched what the mass on the ground. It felt cool and metallic. She got closer to it, and realized it was a bike. Or was a bike. It was wrecked beyond repair, almost like it hit a hard surface. Takigawa was already at one of the wheels, looking at it closely.

"Ayako, hand me the phone." Ayako searched through her pockets as she handed the phone to Takigawa.

"Why, do you know who's bike this is?" She asked, surprised. He could tell by just looking at the tire?

"It's Mai's bike."

Ayako's eyes widened in shock as Takigawa continued to explain while dialing, "I replaced the tire last year for her. These tires are from America. I had them on special order, and they're not usually found in Japan. I also recognize this place, it's the foot of Himiwara hill- where Mai studies…" He trailed off. Without missing a beat, Ayako got up and started to search for Mai in the thick fog.

"Mai! Mai where are you? Are you hurt?!"Ayako screamed. She was still in the middle of the road, but she didn't care. She didn't care if she got lost in the fog, or if she looked like a crazy person while screaming out someone's name to any cars that drove by. The more Ayako yelled for Mai, the more frantic she was getting.

There was still no response. Ayako decided to see what Takigawa was doing when he should be looking for Mai. When she came back, she saw Takigawa moving the bike out of the road, while still speaking to someone on the phone.

"Takigawa, Mai could have been hit by a car, unconscious or dead! What exactly are you doing?"she demanded.

He paused midway into the conversation and glanced up at her.

"Since we can't just do a search party with just the two of us," He took off his jacket and put it on her shoulders, "I'm calling for back up."


	2. Tools of Use

**Disclaimer: I do not own ghost hunt, I would be filthy rich if I did.**

**1:02 a.m**.

Lin put the last of the remaining equipment in the van, and slammed the door. Against his wishes, Naru had gone ahead of him to the site where Ayako and Takigawa were. _'This is ridiculous, when it comes to Mai, he always takes action before thinking. He could have at least waited until I got all the equipment in. I wonder if that girl's logic is contagious…'_ Lin started up the van, and put it in reverse.

He had 20 minute drive to Himiwara Hill Manor, where he would meet _eventually _with Naru and the others. There, he would also see Mr. Lee Wong, and would need to explain what the circumstances were. He was, after all, arriving with all the equipment and no team.  
He did tell Wong about Mai's disappearance briefly over the phone. Wong, being a police investigator himself, was nice enough to send out some officers to look for Mai around Himiwara.

At this point in time, Naru had only told him to wait at the manor as he searched for Mai, and then stand by for his call. Lin allowed him to do it, only in the conditions that he search for one hour, and if the weather persists, like how Takigawa described, he would need to call it quits and return to base.

'Ah, I need to call Madoka, and update her on what's happening.' Lin felt around for his phone.

_Riiiiiiing._

'_Ah, have they already found Taniyama-san?'_ Lin pressed the accept button.

"Moshi Mosh, Lin speaking."

A man with a heavy Chinese accent answered the phone, somewhat startling Lin. _'Who could be calling at this time of the evening?'_

"Hello, my name is Sun Wang, and I am Taniyama-san's physics professor. This number was listed under emergencies. I'm just notifying her that she left her exams in my office on her way out. Am I speaking to her father?"

Lin paused, thinking about how to best respond to the question. "No I am not her father, Wang- san, but I am her guardian. I will let her know that she left her exams. If you don't mind me asking, what time was it when you last saw her?"

There was a pause on the other line, as if Sun Wang was recalling the last encounter. "That was about a quarter until midnight. Lin-san, if you don't mind _me_ asking, has something happened to Taniyama-san for you to ask me that question? If I am correct you are also her employer from Shibuya Psychic Research?"

"Yes but how did you know…"Lin replied, shocked at his words. _Had Mai told him about us_?

"Oh I merely got that information from her emergency card. Now excuse me, I'm currently driving and there seems to be some _obstruction_ on the road. Call me if you need any more information."

Lin heard the disconnection tone, slightly confused. For some reason, his intuition told him that the man was not being entirely truthful. Additionally, he suspiciously phones in the middle of the night to tell Mai about some tests she left at his office? Couldn't he just call tomorrow, or wait until their next class meeting?

Lin drove on. There were other things to think about right now, like figuring out ways to effectively find Mai. She was gone for an hour and a half now…

xxx

**12:55 a.m.**

A black Mercedes quietly pulls up on a dark deserted street. It stops and parks midway on the road. A man with black hair, and deep blue eyes steps out. He walks towards two people leaning on the van. It takes a moment for the two to recognize him.

They stop talking when they realize who he is. The blonde haired man starts to walk in his direction, with the brunette following beside him.

"Hey Naru! Thanks for coming in so fast! But I thought you would at least be with Lin-san to make the search party complete! Anyway, I think we should look over there," Takigawa pointed to the heavily forested area off to the more elevated part of the road, "since that area is closest to the bike trail. The bike must have flown off when it was turning and was wrecked from the impact–"

"Show me where her bicycle is." Naru asked coldly.

Both Ayako and Takigawa stopped dead in their tracks. _There is something strange about Naru_. Ayako thought to herself. _I haven't seen him act like this since…Mai's disappearance in the Urado case._

The only difference this time was that the air around Naru seemed to be charged with electricity. His aura was even more noticeable because of the fog that surrounded him. Even in this hazy weather, they could see clearly his cold blue eyes demanding an answer from either one of them. Immediately.

Ayako pointed to a dirt patch behind the minivan, which was parked a few feet from the road."It's over there," She stated flatly. She didn't need to think twice to know that it was not in her best interest to get in Naru's way this evening.

He glided over to the bike, with Takigawa and Ayako following. His brows came together in concentration as he kneeled down. Naru's facial expression changed from emotionaless and impassive, to completely focused. He took a breath. Quickly, he reached out for the handle and closed his eyes.

Takigawa saw the whole event in slow motion. Why didn't he anticipate Naru doing this? _Is he crazy_?! "STOP NARU! You're not supposed to use your psychic powers! You're only going to hurt yourself!" Takigawa grasped Naru's arms to block him from touching the handle.

But Naru had already made contact. The electrified air around him charged to its climax, and his body slumped into a heap against Takigawa's arms. His eyelids were only half open. The charged atmosphere seemed to dissipate in that moment.

"Naru!" Ayako yelled, taken aback. She and Takigawa knelt down next to him."Are you alright? Say something if you're ok!" At this point, Ayako did not want any of their teammates in a coma, especially while Mai was missing.  
_This idiot, doesn't he realize we need him to find Mai? _  
Naru's breath came out in shallow, irregular huffs. To any normal person, he would have just looked like he ran a marathon. But his jaw was clenched, and his eyes had a look of desperation to them.

"Mai is…no… longer here. Her… existence has…disappeared." He mumbled, as he put his arm over his eyes.

There was a moment of silence. The fog whipped around them, and the cold bit at their faces. Still, Naru's words echoed in the air for what seemed like eternity.  
Ayako was the first to act. She sat Naru up so he could normalize his breathing.

She and Takigawa backed up slightly to give him his space. Takigawa gave a sideways look at Ayako. The emotion in her eyes nearly matched Naru's, but her hands trembled as she folded them into her lap.

"What do you mean she's disappeared?" she whispered.

In that instant, a stinging brightness made them shut their eyes, as headlights from an approaching car illuminated them. The car slowed down to a stop until it was right next to Naru's Mercedes. A Chinese man with huge glasses and a red bow tie popped his head out the driver seat window.

"HEY YOU KIDS, DO YOU REALIZE YOUR CARS IS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD? It's already hard to see in this weather and…"

He had not expected to see a half-dead boy on the side of the road, or the two people sitting next to him as he struggled to breathe. Another thing he did not expect was the minivan that had the Shibuya Psychic Research painted in small letters on the door.

"…ah. You're those people who investigate paranormal activity. Ghosts, right? You need help?"

Ayako shot Takigawa a vicious 'you-handle-that-and-I'll-handle-this' look, as she checked Naru's vitals again. Takigawa responded to this by standing up and sighing. _The control freak has returned._

"Hey there!" Takigawa said, while walking a few feet towards the car. He flashed him a bright smile. "Yes, that's right, we are SPR! We're just taking care of our friend here. He just had a little too much to drink, so we stopped here for a rest. Thanks anyway, we're doing fine, so you can just be on your way."

Takigawa gave him another reassuring smile, and finished it off with a wave. _'Don't need any outsiders messing with this situation.' _Takigawa thought to himself. '_Now, we just need to get Naru to Lin up on Himiwara Manor, and then we'll come back for the Mercedes later.'_ He walked steadily back to Ayako and Naru before hearing the man's voice call out to him.

"Unless you've called a tow company, I don't think you'll be going anywhere." Takigawa spun around in the direction of their cars. On the hood of each car, were wisps of steam coming out, as well as a subtle sizzling sound. Unless one looked closely, one would not be able to see it. It was a miracle to even notice it in fog.

"You sure have some amazing eyesight to be able to see that smoke in this weather." Takigawa said, as he started to walk back towards the man, who was now laughing mildly.

"Hoho! Oh I don't mean to laugh, you just have such a funny look on your face. What did you do? Use some of that psychic energy and overheated your cars?! Hehehehe!"

Takigawa mouthed off excuses faster than his mind could make sense of them.  
"Uh…no. The hill is strenuous for cars, so cars naturally...overheat. By themselves. Without any abnormal environmental factors." Takigawa stammered. He knew Ayako could hear every word he said, and was already feeling the disapproving vibes on his back. _The grave you're digging for yourself is getting deeper._

"Excuse me for just a second." Takigawa smiled sheepishly. He made his way back to Ayako and Naru, who was now completely passed out, but breathing evenly.

Ayako tugged on the bottom of Takigawa's shirt and pulled him down to eye level with her. She spoke in a low voice about 2 inches away from his face.

"What are you doing chit chatting with that man? Do you realize Mai has literally disappeared, and knowing her, probably gotten herself in some lethal situation? Use your cell phone to call Lin-san to get us, and politely tell that man to go away!" she let go of his shirt.

Takigawa sat down abruptly, hitting the rocky ground. "Ouch! Okay _dearest_, let me just get my cell phone out. Calm down." Takigawa fished through his pockets and took out his phone. The screen was pixilated and frozen, and the phone itself smelled like burnt metal. _Uh oh._ He took out Ayako's phone too, and not surprisingly, had the same condition.  
_  
Looks like Naru really overdid it._

Ayako's eyes widened slightly from seeing both their modes of communication smoking away. Takigawa just sighed and stood up, and strolled back to the driver, with the phones smoking in his hand.

"I suppose your phones got damaged from the hill overheating it, too!" The man called out from his car, quite amused about the situation. "Come on, I'll give you a ride to where you need to go."

**1:20 a.m. **

Naru was securely in the back seat with Ayako, while Takigawa sat in the passenger's seat.

"Sorry, with all the commotion, I haven't properly introduced myself yet. I'm Takigawa, this is my girlfriend, Ayako, and our unconscious friend here is Nar-, uh...Shibuya-san."

Sun started up the car, and accelerated up the elevating road. The fog swirled around the car, making it hard to see outside. "I'm Sun Wang, a professor at Himiwara University. You can call me Sun. Nice to meet you. Oh, where did you say you were going?"

"We need to be at Himiwara Manor, just northeast of here, on top of the hill." There was a second where Takigawa could feel the air get heavier. The car slowed down slightly. At the same time, he thought he saw a hard look pass over Sun's face, but it was only for a moment. The next thing he knew, Sun was smiling at him.

"Oh yes, that place is quite beautiful, a nice view of the forest and marsh areas, as well as the city lights. There's a nice bike trail not far from here. Although lately, there's been terrible accidents both on the main road and the bike trail. You probably already know about it." Sun gave Takigawa a sideways glance. "Since it's most likely in your _expertise_."

Takigawa and Ayako were stunned that he knew the case was connected to the supernatural. At this time, the media projected it as a string of unfortunate events, due to the volatile weather on Himiwara. Reports on the news omitted any mentioning of ghosts to avoid transforming the case into a circus. Either way, it was more acceptable to the public to explain the incidents as "accidents".

_Bump_. The car jostled as they went over the more rocky areas of the main road, named Mullberry Lane. The jostling had caused something to fall and roll around Ayako's feet. By the sound of the thump it made, it was something heavy. She felt the pressure of it hitting her left foot, and felt around the car's carpet flooring to find it. She picked up a rock that was as big as a grapefruit: It was dense and jagged, with a dull gray color.

Sun peered at Ayako through the rear view mirror. "Oh, I see you've found one of my geodes. If you turn it over, you will be able to see their internal composition."

Ayako flipped the rock upside down. What used to look like a dull gray surface, was broken into, exposing hundreds of glittering crystals. They reflected back any sources of light hitting them, throwing faint rays of light around her.

"It's beautiful. I haven't seen one this big in a long time." Ayako said as she put the crystal stone to her side. Her fingers hit another hard surface, and she looked down. Next to her, there was a wooden box, that was partially covered by a leather cloth. It was just above where Naru's head lay. However, something shimmered in the box, beckoning her to take a look.

In it were hundreds of different colored crystals of different type. On the very top sat an ornate glass box. Inside that box were three, very detailed, crystal cranes. What's more was that the interior of the box had a specific shape that held the crystals securely. It was as if the box was made for the purpose of those three cranes.

"I see you're an avid collector. Or are you a part time geologist?" She inquired, while fingering the glass box that protected them. These cranes were the most beautiful out of all the crystals in the box, one red, the other yellow, and the last was a dark violet, almost black.

"OH! Please don't touch those. They are very valuable, and are a part of my private collection." Sun Wang drew out an arm and lifted the leather cloth. He quickly covered the wooden and glass box containing the crystals completely.

Ayako huffed. I suppose this was no time to be ogling over beautifully handcrafted objects anyway. _We need to find Mai! _

"Ah, I hope you're not offended Ayako-san. Those cranes are as precious to me as life itself." Sun shifted gears to accelerate further up the slope, and peered once more through the rear-view mirror. "To answer your question, about me being a geologist – I am not really, I'm more a specialist on crystals."

Ayako eyed him quizzically. "I had no idea there was a specific career for that. What do you do?"

"Haha! Yes, It's rare to meet someone around here that works in this kind of field. These days, there are not many who would consider it a career. But it's a fine job, and very fulfilling since what I teach can be directly related to them. As for what I do- I categorize the crystals by element, composition, and ability."

_Ability? _

Sun took out three small crystal rocks from his pocket, and handed them to Takigawa. He put them in his hands gingerly, and turned on the rear view mirror light to see them better. "Crystals are not just for aesthetics, they can be very effective, in more ways than one." He paused. "That is… if they're used properly." Sun rounded another turn on the hill.

Takigawa was taken aback. His use for crystals was very limited. The only capacity he knew that crystals had was to enhance healing, and catalysts for prophecy. "What other abilities do they have?" He asked, while picking out a white transparent crystal of the three.

The car slowed down since the Mulberry Lane turned into a private road that went around to the cliffside. "For example, that crystal you're holding is mostly composed of silicon, it is often used in experiments to handle and control lasers, or other high frequency energies. Just like crystals can reflect and refract light, it can also do the same with energy. Its geometric structure allows it to completely harness the energy directed through it and reflect it outwards to a focused point. As for the other two you're holding," he pointed in Takigawa's hand, "one is a diamond-silicon carbide, also known as the 'White Dragon Eye', while the blue tricolored crystal is an Agate."

Ayako's ears perked up to the word 'diamond.' She leaned forward slightly with eyes widened.  
"What does the White Dragon Eye do?" She inquired, trying to be nonchalant.

Sun adjusted his glasses and chuckled to himself. He replied, "The White Dragon Eye does exactly what the silicon quartz does: it harnesses and focuses energy that it's contacted with. The only difference is that micro diamonds embedded in it strengthens the structure as a whole, enabling it to conduct and control extremely high amounts of energy. In ancient mythology, it was often used by powerful sorcerers to help control their high emission of spiritual energy, and also to avoid the _Boomerang_ phenomenon."

"And the Boomerang phenomenon is…?" He inquired as the Eye caught the surrounding light and sparkled back at him. They rounded the last turn. The fog around them got thinner, and they were beginning to see farther ahead of them. On cue, a yellow light appeared at the end of the private road. They were almost to the manor.

But in the car, Takigawa and Ayako were at the edge of their seats in interest.

"The boomerang phenomenon," Sun continued, "is exactly as it sounds. People who are born with high spiritual power, don't necessarily have the physical body to sustain it, especially when the energy released is enough to tear their bodies apart. It backfires on them, injuring the body as a whole. The body will start to deteriorate, starting with the muscles. First effects are breathing," he glanced at Naru behind him, "and coordination. It will eventually over-stimulate the brain to the point where it automatically shuts off the the important functions of the body- leading to loss of consciousness, coma, or even death."

Ayako and Takigawa looked at each other. This was sounding awfully familiar.

"The boomerang phenomenon was avoided for those who were lucky enough to possess the Eye. Not only has the Eye never been known to break, but it was also recorded for use in attacking, defending, and dispelling evil by merely focusing one's energy through it. For this reason, the white dragon eye is sought after and is very rare. Also, it only naturally occurs in places that have extreme heat and pressure, such as volcanic caves and pipes."

"Ah, here we are." Sun slowed the car to a stop. The sky was still dark, but the fog had lifted. They could now clearly see around them. A few meters ahead was an enormous mansion, completely made up of gray stone. It looked like it would have around 20-30 rooms, and was completely lighted. The yellow light they saw a few _kilometers_ back was coming from this place. The manor's size was accentuated by the smaller trees around it. Under the moonlight, it looked like it had been there for decades or even centuries, because of its old English structure. To top it off, it was surrounded by an antique gate, about 20 feet tall, with uniformed guards standing in the front.

"Geez, all this place would need is a moat and it would be a full blown castle." Takigawa mumbled to himself, as he checked the car clock.

**1:22 a.m.**

**xxx**

In the last twenty minutes of the car ride, Naru laid next to Ayako, ignorant of the world around him. An onlooker would think he was having a peaceful nap, but that couldn't be further from the truth. He was in that limbo of being awake and asleep, all the while hearing voices in his head. They were somewhat distorted, just like echoes in a cave.

_**Am I dreaming?**_

"If I didn't have work, I would visit Narajara cave…"

_**Mai?**_

"Exploration time with Imminent death…scary lady…Calm down Mai, she's not here right now-"

_**Mai's thoughts?**_

"Get out of here..Mai…the walls…get away from them!"  
_**  
Gene…**_

"Miss, you look lost."  
"Can you help me? I'm looking for a way out."  
"…we are ALL looking for a way out…"

_**These voices…Mai's not alone?**_

"I need to tell…tell them about this…he…coming for me…"  
"…It's impossible…your body will remain…"  
"Please don't… you're not…"  
"No! He wouldn't…Naru … Naru…NARU!"

"Naru." He felt a warm hand pat his face gently.

He opened his eyes to find Ayako smiling at him, with an expression full of concern. _How long have I been asleep?_ He forced himself to remember what had happened before he blacked out, while trying to push away the emotions that still swirled through him: Confusion, anxiety, guilt, and another…_betrayal_?  
Naru shook his head to orient himself. He can't be overcome by these feelings, even if the source for them might have been Mai. Right now, he needed to rationalize. He needed to plan. Now, he had a clue of what happened to Mai – that was a start.

"Naru? Are you ok? You've been out for about 25 minutes now. Take it easy, we've just arrived at the manor." Naru snapped to a sitting position so quickly, almost hitting Ayako's head in the process. He pushed past her and got out of the car. Surveying his surroundings, he found Takigawa talking to an unknown man a few feet away from him, and started to walk to them. Ayako followed him from behind, yelling,"Naru, I said to take it easy, you were close to dying you know! At least wear a jacket in this freezing weather! Naru!"

Naru was only a few feet from the men when he heard the tail end of their conversation.

"Thank you for taking us here, but why are we stopping so far from the main gate? We still have a quarter of a mile distance to walk." Takigawa inquired while scratching his head. "I even had to ask Ayako to wake Naru, he really should still be resting over such an ordeal."

"Yes, since being _drunk_ can almost kill you." He shot back sarcastically. He gave Takigawa a meaningful look. He was speechless. _How much did this guy know?_  
Sun sighed in defeat. "To be honest," he confessed, "the reason we stopped here is because I'm not in particularly good terms with the owner of Himiwara Manor."

"Mr. Lee Wong?"

"Yes."

"So you plan to drop us off here?" Naru asked flatly. It was more a statement than a question. Sun Wang and Takigawa spun around, just realizing Naru was standing there…fully conscious.

"Ah! Shibuya-san!" Mr. Wang exclaimed while bowing. "My name is professor Sun Wang, I'm a professor up here in Himiwara. It's nice to see you up and well! You must take care of your body better, and know your limits in alcohol use!" Naru shot a severe look in Takigawa's direction but said nothing.

Sun continued, "As for traveling the rest of the distance," He pointed back at the manor towards the guards. They were looking over in their direction, and two of them entered a black minivan.

"They are coming to get you. Just state your name and purpose. You'll be able to meet up with Lee Wong in no time." Sun made a move to leave. "Anyway, I must really be going now! It's nearly 2 a.m. and I have a class to teach tomorrow!" Mr. Wang exclaimed while walking in the direction of the car. Ayako and Takigawa gave each other a confused look. _Suspicious, much_?

"Do you teach a physics class, Wang-san?" Naru asked casually.

Wang kept going without turning around. "Yes, as a matter of fact I do."

_Beep!_

The black minivan approached them with two guards, and Lin sitting in it. Naru didn't say another word as he stepped into the van. Ayako followed to him, staring at him questioningly as he sat down. _He knows something_. It seemed like the situation was going into a whirl at that point. Lin sat opposite Naru, and started updating him about the set up of the base, new information on the case, how Mr. Wong's search party for Mai was progressing, as well as information on Mr. Wong himself. The other guards remained silent and emotionless in the two front seats.

Takigawa was in the progress of going in the van, before realizing the crystals were still with him. He turned to find Sun Wang, who was already in the driver's seat of his car.

"Oy! Sensei! You left these behind!" Takigawa opened up his hand for him to see. Sun started up his car, and proceeded to drive in the other direction. At the last moment, he popped his head out of the window, and yelled back.

"Keep them. You'll need it."


	3. New Encounters

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt.

_Author's Note: Thanks to all reviewers for their encouragement on this story! Especially Ariana Taniyama, thanks for the specific constructive criticism ___

_This chapter is longer than the others mind you, since I wanted to have everything all in one go. Another thing is that I try to build this story up as much as I can, so getting to Mai has taken three chapters. But I'm definitely gonna put all I've got to make Mai and Naru's reunion super awesome. _

_Thanks again for all the encouragement on my first ghost hunt fanfic!_

_***NOTE with the note: Sorry! I accidentally posted my un-revised chapter 3 up a few hours ago. This is the revised one."**_

Xxx

The forest was dead quiet.

Mai had walked a good mile where she fell and the terrain had changed slightly. The haze that enveloped the forest earlier had disappeared to a minimum, leaving a fresh scent around her. A soft sunlight trickled between the leaves making the forest brighten up around her.

_Again, why is there so much light at midnight?_ _First it was just gray foggish light, and now this?_

Secondly, the ground changed to rich and earthy – probably almost anything can be grown here.

"AH!" Mai yelled, as she tripped on what felt like a log. After brushing herself off of soil and grass, she inspected the thing she tripped on closely. Her eyes grew wide.

The log was not a log after all, but a tree root. It continued to widen to the size of her torso, and then to a width of a small room, until it went on to form a trunk of a tree. Mai's jaw dropped in just how gigantic the tree was. She looked around; many more trees were just about its size, as well. It was the first time Mai had been a place with such enormous trees; all of them were like huge sequoias, 200-300 feet tall.

She craned her neck completely back as she tried to survey the whole tree. In the end, she couldn't even see the top part because of how tall they were.

Mai rubbed her neck. _Ouch, it hurts to look_ .

"Wow. I never knew Himiwara had a forest like this. It definitely was NOT in their guidebook of this place." After another few minutes of staring, she turned to walk on.

Another good thing, she had noticed, was the black ooze that rose up from the soil in large puddles was non-existent in this area. She had no problem walking around freely in now...but she did have to worry about running into a few trunks. They were so massive that it literally had to take 2-3 minutes just to walk _around_ them. There was another peculiar thing: there was not one bird, insect, or any other living thing around her.

It would be an understatement to call it odd, it was downright impossible. Her voice and footsteps were the only sounds she heard after Gene left her.

"Okay, so I'm done tree ogling. Now where am I?" Mai asked herself, while walking aimlessly through the forest. Everything around her was still alien. The trees acted like a maze that she had to weave through. Another big problem was the trees' canopies acted like a ceiling, despite the little light rays that came through. She felt boxed in from above.

After a few more minutes of wandering, she felt herself getting more frustrated. She swore she just walked around in a circle just now. Quite frankly, she didn't even know where she was going. It seemed like wherever she went it looked the same.

"Oh!" She smacked herself on the head, "That's right, Naru gave me _that_ to help in these kind of situations." She dug around her backpack. On the very bottom of one of the pockets, she fished out a metallic circular object.

_*flashback one month ago*_

"Mai, you have no idea where we are, do you?" Naru said, while grabbing the map from her.

They were on location in Scotland, a case that took Madoka, Naru's self-claimed boss, two weeks for Naru to accept. The investigation had taken them to a large resort off the Shores of Loch Ness Lake. They had already exorcised the poltergeist that was terrorizing the guests; apparently it was all because of a treasure that the ghost had left underneath the house. Things were calming down. Ayako, Takigawa, Masako, and John had gone home, leaving only Lin, Naru, and Mai.

Since they had some down time, Mai wanted to explore the lake and maybe see the Loch Ness monster before departing. She had invited them to go with her. Lin gave Mai a half-smile, saying he needed to pack up the equipment for transport. However, Naru, by some profound miracle, simply said he would like to take a break and search for the Loch Ness as well.

Upon hearing this, Mai's heart did a back flip over the thought of her being alone with Naru. There were very few instances when they were alone, she was usually getting attacked, or Masako or the others somehow interfered, or a new clue popped up that he needed to attend to_. But not today! I'm so lucky!_ Mai thought happily. Now, she felt her blood pressure shoot up to her brain, as she fought the urge to smack the conceited smile off his face.

"The first step to get to your destination is to figure out _where you are_ and then _where you are going_, idiot."

"I know where we are! We're at the Northeastern end of the lake." She said angrily. Again, she tried to snatch the map back from Naru. He held the map firmly behind him.

"Sure," Naru pointed to the sky above them, "but the sun says differently."

Mai looked up. The sun had started to lower on the other side of the sky, meaning they were definitely on the northwestern part of the lake. Seeing her realization, Naru smirked and folded his arms.

"Let's make a trade. You can have this compass," He slipped a small object into her backpack. "…And I'll have this." Before Mai could make another grab for it, he put the map in his pocket. Then he turned to walk in the direction of the lake's shoreline.

"Besides, we'd be going around in circles if you let a monkey make sense of a map."

*

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A MONKEY, DAMMIT!"

Mai hollered in a loud voice, as she clenched her fist in the air. She nearly broke the compass in her hand doing so_. Eek too loud!_ The sound of her voice was even more amplified in the silent forest. Mai scanned her eyes around to make sure no one heard her…not even a cricket chirp. _Good_, _no scariness appearing here…_

She looked down on her compass : it showed the green arrow pointing in the northern direction.

"Ok, first step: I need to figure out where I am." She said to herself. Mai stopped her wandering for a moment and leaned on a tree.

"I fell on the third turn going down, that was on the eastern side of Himiwara…so that means I came from the east there." She pointed a finger back to the direction where she walked from. "Now where am I going? If I get to the main road, I could just take that to SPR. So… I would need to go some place where the main road passes through…" Mai thought for a moment. _Main road passes through, easy to get to, somewhere I know_…

"Oh yeah!" Mai smacked her hands together, "a major tourist spot …Narajara Cave! That's…north from here!" Mai checked the compass again. She was still walking in the northern direction. It was only a few minutes from the eastern side of Himiwara to Narajara Cave. Mai knew this route, knowing one of the major landmarks was the elevation changes to it: all she just had to follow the downward slope North, and she would arrive in the cave's region. Additionally, the area around the cave had unique rock formations, as if the place used to experience major earthquake activity. In short, it was very hard to miss.

_Mai, you're a fricken genius_, she thought happily to herself. _Didn't even need a map to solve this one! Take that, Naru!' _

She continued to trudge through the forest. There were still no signs of life, but the ground had started to become uneven and had a downward slope. It was also less muddy and more solid- she even saw a few large pieces of granite here and there. The trees themselves were also getting smaller and thinner. _That's probably due to the soil being less rich. This was definitely where Narajara cave would be._

Suddenly, she came to a halt.

"No way." She whispered to herself.

The terrain opened up in front of her, giving her a clear view of the area. Large granite rocks slanted sideways, and the ground became lopsided. There was no soil any more, just jagged piles of boulders to climb over. Mai felt like she was looking at the aftermath of a mountain after a landslide.

But that wasn't the problem.

Right before the rock formations started began to begin, a river of black ooze flowed in front of her - The same black ooze that had almost killed her. To Mai's horror, it seemed to know she was there. It tried to overflow out of its usual pattern and come to her, roaring and gurgling all the way. She backed up a few feet into the forest behind her.

The ooze rushed at her, making another angry noise, and formed into a small wave. It accelerated in mass and speed, swelling into a wall of ooze 80 feet high. Mai knew she was done for. There was no way she could outrun a tsunami, even less a _thinking_ tsunami. Mai closed her eyes.

_This is it. Goodbye everyone…_

The wave crashed at her feet. It didn't even touch her. It stopped, right where the rich soil started underneath Mai. Mai opened one eye. She saw it attempting to form itself again, but like the waves on the sea shore, it just crashed into the soil. It made a painful gurgling noise and retreated back, uniting with its river.

Mai blinked back disbelieving, and felt her herself sinking in relief into the ground beneath her

"Phew! Now that was a miracle."

She shakily took out her compass, and checked the direction. _Yep, it's definitely pointing north to the killer ooze. Now how am I supposed to get to the cave? _Mai sighed and sat down, putting her head between her knees.

"In this situation, I would just try to build a bridge over it. But since it's intelligent," Mai threw a pebble at it. Immediately, a slither of ooze shot out and engulfed the pebble. "…I've got no chance." She closed her eyes for a moment and felt sleepy. _What time is it?_

Mai checked her watch.

**1:01 a.m.**

'_How nice, I've been here for exactly one hour._' Mai found the closest tree next to her, and skooched over. She leaned against it with her head, and closed her eyes. She felt herself falling into the darkness of sleep, and feeling the peace that came with it. She exhaled comfortably, and drifted away…

At that moment, there was some rustling in the trees, and footsteps. Mai's body stiffened. She could hear people whispering.

"Shh…you don't know if she's one of them. Didn't you see how she stopped the _sinestra_?"

"We won't know unless we wake her up! Besides have you ever seen them sleep? She probably isn't one."

"I agree with Mika, we should wake her. She may know information from the outside."

She felt irritated at being woken up…her body told her that she should go right back to sleep. _But I'm lost, and I fell off a hill_. Mai opened her eyes and rubbed them sleepily. Through her blurry vision, she could make out three people.

"Now you've done it! She's awake!"

She blinked to see a tall blonde man, late twenties, a young woman with red hair, also in late twenties, and lastly, a black haired young man, in his teens.

"Hello miss, you look lost." The tall blonde said.

xxx

**Himiwara Manor  
1:45 a.m.**

"Whoa."

Naru, Lin, Ayako, and Takigawa all piled up at the front entrance of the Manor. The manor was just as magnificent on the outside as it was in the inside. The lobby they were in was a perfect rectangle. In front of them, there was a double handle winding staircase going from the top floor to the bottom. The entrance lobby had white marble flooring, with mahogany walls. The decorations consisted of antique Chinese and Japanese statues and paintings. Two jade dragons sat in front of the handle bars, as the staircase was the focal point in the room.

Every item on one side of the room had the same on the other side. However, there was something that stood out particularly: there were pillars and pillars of white marble with huge crystals embedded in them. They were place in a linear fashion throughout the whole room. If one would draw a line through all of them, they would make a perfect rectangle.

"This place is very…symmetrical." Ayako said to herself, as they were ushered by one of the maids into the parlor. The parlor itself might have once looked like the rest of the manor, but now, it was SPR's main base. There were small TVs everywhere that had had video shots from cameras in the Manor, and Mulberry Lane (the main road where sightings were active) and the bike trail. There were spiderwebs of wires running along the wall to support the technology that surrounded the room. Ayako and Takigawa sat tiredly on one of the silk embroidered sofas.

On the other hand, Naru sat back on the parlor couch, slightly irritated. They were taking too long with all the formalities. Although Lin had already set up the equipment in all the rooms, Naru hated to wait for the owner to show up. What he wanted to do was get the information on the case files now. He had a briefing from Lin, but it was simply not enough. He felt sure Mai's disappearance was because of the case on hand, and the more time they wasted waiting, the more danger Mai would be in. Wherever she was.

As for Lin, he was just as irritated as Naru.

One, he knew that Naru had used his psychic powers to find clues on Mai. Before he even admitted anything, he felt Naru's life force was significantly weaker on their car ride here. Two, the manor itself is strange. There was a faint fragrance that dulled his senses. It was as if the whole area had been neutralized of any spirit presence whatsoever. A dead space.

"Hello everyone!"

A young woman with long black hair and green eyes came into the room. She had a black dress with sleeves, and high heeled shoes. She looked of Chinese descent. She was of medium height, and in her late twenties. She had the grace and figure of a noblewoman, and her voice was one that commanded respect.

However, as she walked in she had scanned the room quickly, her eyes stopped and widened slightly at a certain raven-haired man.

_Does she know Naru? _Lin thought to himself. Even if she did, Naru probably did not. He barely paid any attention to her presence, and stayed deep in thought.

"My name is Lilith, and I am the head maid at Himiwara Manor. Sorry for the long wait." She quickly looked around at the gloomy faces in the room, before focusing back to the one person. "I see you all must be fatigued. I will get the tea ready."

She came back out with tea and cookies, and gave a cup to each person.

"Mr. Lee Wong is just coming back from his office from the other side of town. He gave word to tell you that the search party was called off due to the heavy fog on the main road. They did search for a few minutes, though. I'm sorry, but no one was found." Again, she fixated her gaze on Naru. He was staring at his tea cup, expressionless.

"We will thank Mr. Wong for his efforts, anyway." Lin replied, compensating for Naru's silence.

"Ah, also I have something for Shibuya-san." She said, while placing a folder on the table. "I was asked by Mr. Wong to give this to you in the meantime."

Ayako, Takigawa, and Lin, got up to group around Naru as he looked through the updated case files.

"Thank you." Naru responded in monotone, as he opened the folder.

"Your things will be taken to your rooms." Lilith smiled and bowed at him before walking out, closing the parlor door behind her.

Takigawa let out a long sigh. "Man, Naru, did ya see how that maid kept her eyes on you that whole time? She didn't even look at us, not even once! It looked like she was gonna eat you! Although most people probably wouldn't mind being eaten by a babe like her -"

_Smack._

"You've got some nerve, Houshou Takigawa! She's so suspicious! She could have some hidden intent on Naru and the rest of us for one thing! This place is too perfect." Ayako clenched her fist. "On top of that, we still don't know why Mai's disappeared from this world." She finished off into a whisper. Yes, that's right, Mai is involved and all Naru can think about is the case, the case! He hasn't even told us anything! We should be putting more efforts in finding her, despite this weather! What if she's dead...

Ayako finished and leaned on Takigawa. He rubbed her back in apology, as he tried to calm her down. Lin stared at Ayako, slightly wide-eyed. Naru did not tell him any information on Mai's disappearance at all.

"Excuse me, Ayako-san, when did you find out that Mai had disappeared?" He inquired, trying to keep his voice gentle, even though he was shocked out of his senses.

Naru was the one that replied this time.

"I used clairvoyance to see where Mai was located. She met an apparition on one of the major turns over Himiwara forest and fell. Just like," Naru took out a paper with the summary of the case files, "these cases here."

"Also," Naru said in dead pan, "Mai's presence can no longer be felt. She probably has fallen into the _Interim Mundo._" Naru gave the paper to Ayako and Takigawa, who had not been updated on any information regarding the case yet. Lin gave him a knowing look.

Ayako knew enough Latin to translate the name, and could assume the meaning from it. Her eyes were wide in horror. Takigawa, on the other hand, had no idea.

"What the hell is Interim Mundo?" Takigawa said, slightly irritated by the new onslaught of information.

Lin picked up a small globe on the counter table, and rolled it in his hand.

"The literal translation is 'in between the world.' There are areas on the earth that have high magnetic and spiritual energy, especially due to major environmental and geological influences. For example, we have the Bermuda triangle. There are major faults within the ocean floor, methane hydrates, rogue waves, and hurricanes. This place is known to have an enormous amount of energy stored within its current, so much so that when conditions are correct, can cause a dimensional crack. This is known as an Interim Mundo."

"Many times, if there is a human present, they get trapped in the Interim Mundo and vanish." Lin stopped rolling the globe and held it up by two fingers.

"Areas that have the most potential to becoming an Interim Mundo, usually have a vast amount of moving energy. Worthy locations are along the edges of tectonic plates," he traced a finger around the continents, "making up the Ring of Fire. This includes areas of hot springs and volcanoes."

Takigawa sighed, "that would be all well and good, except for one thing: we're on a hill. No volcanoes, no major oceanic events, no hot springs and geysers. There's no moving energy here."

"And it's also when conditions are correct." Ayako added. "What sort of conditions could this place offer?"

A quiet moment spread over the room. The only thing heard was Naru sipping tea.

"…The fog." Ayako stated while looking through all seven case files.

"All the disappearances happened in the fog. It's not anything like a volcano or any hurricane, but it IS a moving energy."

"So we have the fog, what are other patterns between Taniyama-san's disappearance, and these seven cases?" Lin said, recovering from his initial shock. If there were any clues to finding her, they would be in these case files.

"Well, the most obvious thing is that all the people who disappeared are orphans." Naru said over his tea cup.

"EH???!!!" Ayako and Takigawa said together. This definitely wasn't in the reports that Lee Wong gave them a few days ago. Ayako took out her copy of the case files as well as the Lee Wong's letter. She scanned through them quickly, and stared at Lin quizzically.

"You know Lin- san, there are some mistakes in the case file that's given to us. It didn't say they were all orphans, and another thing," Ayako pointed at a single sentence in Lee Wong's letter, "he said they were all dead."

"But there were no mention of any bodies found. No autopsy reports. Not a shred of evidence to conclude they are actually dead. It's as if they just disappeared in thin air. This only further proves the Interim Mundo theory." Lin replied, setting down the globe back on the coffee table.

"So let's do this old-school style." Takigawa kicked up his feet on the coffee table. "Until Wong-san gets here, we'll all read our copies of the new case file and the original. Anyone who finds anything will yell it out, and we can string together some clues to find Mai."

Naru stood up. "It's inefficient having all four of us here looking through all of this. Takigawa, go and set up the cameras in the most active locations outside. Start with the bike trail. Try to assess what kind of ghosts we're dealing with, as well as any other traces of evidence. Bring Matsuzaki-san with you. There's a good amount of trees in that area." Naru switched over to sit in front of the cameras, case file in hand. "Lin and I will be watching for any disturbances as you do so. We will update you when we meet Wong-san."

"If Mai is in this Interim Mundo," Ayako burst out, "how will we get her out?"

"IF she is in there, something which we still need to confirm, we will need enough spiritual energy to open a gateway and have her pass through." Lin said, while giving them equipment to set up, "Our energy combined would not be enough. We would need Masako and John-san for that."

"So we have to wait until they arrive?"

"Precisely."

Takigawa and Ayako nodded and stood up to pack for departure. Naru narrowed his eyes and added, "When you go on the bike path," he added,"look _carefully_ on the third turn down."

After a few minutes of getting their backpacks, and some cautionary orders, the two left the parlor.

In a flash, Naru sat down in front of the video cameras, and put all the case files in front of him, lining them up. With a red marker, he started to underline and circle quickly and efficiently, as if underlining and circling was the only thing he ever did in the world. He glanced at the cameras intermittently, while keeping a steady pace of scribbling notes.

"Lin, it's not like you to stare at me like an observing scientist. Please make notes on case numbers 6-8." While facing forward, he held a pile of papers out to him with his left hand.

"Naru, you know what it means to be in the Interim Mundo. If Mai being there is true, we need to put all our resources into going inside. Why did you send Ayako-san and Takigawa-san away, to only do the trivial tasks of checking on cameras? Furthermore, they don't know what they're looking for. You haven't given them any information regarding the Interim Mundo…especially the _time_ _limitations_ of those trapped in it."

Naru's hand paused for an instant before starting to move again.

"It is because they don't know anything that I sent them out."

xxx

**2:10 a.m.**

Lilith stared at the fog enveloping the windows of their service car. She had met Mr. Wong at the gates, as she usually did when he came home. He sat next to her as they drove up past the manor's main entrance.

"Lilith, I suppose you saw our guests in the manor already?" Lee Wong said in a cheerful voice. He was in his fifties, tall in stature, with slick black hair, and a taste for fine clothes and accessories. He wore an Armani suit, and a Rolex. He had been sitting in the car for the past two hours in heavy traffic and was glad to be home.

"Yes, they are very interesting." She replied darkly, as she turned her head to look at him. "Especially Kazuya Shibuya, he is quite a character. He has a certain _aura_ to him."

"Haha! Lilith, has cupid shot you with an arrow while I was away? I really must meet this man!" He said jovially. "Now tell me, did you give them the case files?"

"Yes. They already have their equipment set up in the rooms, and made their main room as the parlor. There are four of them in total, another four will be arriving at 6 a.m."

"Oh good! The more the merrier. I would like to get this case done, and they sure do have a head start!" He laughed again for a few moments. His laughter died down, and he turned to look at Lilith seriously.

"And how…was Kana today?"

"She stayed in her room as always. She hasn't spoken a word, the servants believe her to be mute. As far as her behavior goes, her tantrums no longer include breaking the furniture and damaging the walls. She is being silent and obedient."

Wong stared out the window. "I see. Well, I hope for her sake, that she will get used to living with me sometime soon."

The car slowed to a stop in front of the main door to the house. Lilith started to gather her things, as Wong unbuckled his seat belt.

"On to other news, I've heard they have not found their investigator Mai Taniyama."

"As anticipated, her body could not be sought for due to the weather. We will try again later when the fog clears up." She replied steadily, as she unbuckled her seat belt.

Wong's expression was hidden in the darkness of the car as he mumbled.

"That will be too late."

xxx

Ayako and Takigawa walked down the steep and narrow turns of the bike trail. They had to park their car on the main road because of it. Both were already out of breath due to the heavy equipment they carried on their backs. Because the fog obstructed their vision, they had to keep one hand on the cliffs' wall in order to prevent falling off.

"You know, they should put a railing here! It's so dangerous! I'm surprised only seven people have fallen off this thing." Ayako shivered as she glanced towards the 150 foot drop to the forest below. She a wave of nausea come over her. "I seriously can see why Mai did."

"Well, we don't know if they ALL fell off. And can you believe how Naru just ushered us out like that? I have a strange feeling that he was trying to get rid of us." Takigawa huffed as he stepped slowly behind Ayako.

"Maybe…you know Naru, he thinks he's a one man army sometimes…what's worrying me more was the strange atmosphere I feel ever since we got here." Ayako inquired, slowing down. The fog was thickening in front of them.

"You feel it too huh? When we were at the manor, it felt like the air was heavy and clouded my spiritual senses. I usually can sense the energies of the people around me, but at the manor, there was nothing. If I was deaf and blind, I wouldn't know you were sitting next to me."

"It's the first time I felt that way," Ayako replied and carefully stepped over a rock. "Also, there's a lot of energy here, it makes the air have a tingle to it. I'm surprised there aren't as many ghosts as I thought there would be. This place is a hot bed. Oh and another thing," she complained as she stepped over a branch, "did you see how horribly perfect Wong's house was? It was unnatural."

"Well it definitely seems suspicious…So you think this place is an Interim Mundo?" Takigawa asked.

"I think this place can hold several Interim Mundos. The problem is, it feels that there is something here that's containing it…as if it was being manipulated."

"Yeah. There was a similar case I worked on a few years ago. There were some missing people too. But I came at the close of the situation. In the end, I didn't help much. It took a bunch of us monks just to keep the energy down, to keep it from exploding into a physical force. But after a day, the energy that was building up suddenly vanished. We never solved the actual problem ourselves, nor did we have the resources to." Takigawa said, feeling the cliff slightly curve.

"Wait, how long did you say it was?"

"Well, it started at midnight and lasted exactly 24 hours. Could you believe that? It ended exactly midnight the next day. We never found the missing people."

Ayako felt herself walking in a curve. "I see…wait what turn are we on?"

She felt the air get more humid around her. The thick fog started to lessen. She could now see in everything in front of her, around the cliff, and the forest below…to the very _LOW_ forest below.

Her stomach turned.

"Oops, I think this is the third one."

Ayako rolled her eyes at him, and she set one of her cameras to the side. She looked straight at Takigawa, and promised herself to never look down again. "I guess it is important he sent us out, since Mai probably fell off right _here_."

"Is that what Naru said?"

"Not directly."

The sky that was only slightly cloudy, now had angry brown clouds welling up and approaching over the cliffside. The fog thinned out and disappeared completely, as if retreating from the clouds. At that moment, light flashed, illuminating the area in a fantastic glowing white.

Takigawa looked up and gasped.

"I don't believe it. It's lightning."

BOOM.

"And thunder." Ayako added quietly. She stared at the incoming brown clouds spreading in the sky above them. She suddenly felt cold and slightly wet.

"You know Takigawa, this only proves how weird this place is! It is very rare that a thunder cloud appears out of nowhere. A freak storm."

"I wouldn't say that." A low voice called out from behind them.

Ayako and Takigawa spun around so quick they almost lost their footing. Crouching on a rocky perch was an old man smiling at them. He wore dark brown robes and black boots. He looked down at them cheerfully with bright silver eyes, and with a beard that ran down to his feet. As stunned as Ayako and Takigawa were about seeing a random old man sitting there, the thing sitting next to him was even more baffling.

A majestic blue bird sat next to him staring at them beautifully with its red eyes. Its body structure was similar to a phoenix- It was about 6 feet high, its feathers were sleek and multiple shades of blue. The power emanating from the bird was so strong, it made Ayako and Takigawa weak in the knees.

"Who are you?"

xxx

**Himiwara Manor  
2:20 a.m.**

"Good evening friends!" Wong said cheerfully as he strolled into the room. "I'm Lee Wong, the primary investigator for the disappearances here on Himiwara."

He was welcomed with the sullen face one man standing beside a younger man sitting in front of the video cameras. The air in the room was tense, as if the two had just finished a heated argument. The younger man rotated his chair around to face him. His cold blue eyes stared back at him, emotionless.

_Lilith was right. That is quite an aura._

"Good evening Mr. Wong, we've been waiting for you. It's nice to meet you." Lin greeted formally, with his hand stretched towards him.

"It is nice meeting you too," Mr. Wong said as they shook hands. "You must be Lin-san." He stretched his hand out to the younger man. "And you must be Shibuya-san. It is an honor to meet you both."

Naru shook his hand, but eyed him closely. His hands were cold, as if he just had been outside.

"Let's work well together." Naru stated monotonously.

Lin-san started to hold up some of the case files to him. "Unfortunately, we are somewhat pressed, due to the fact that one of our investigators is missing. As you can see, we have been working on the case files. There are some differences between the original cases that you sent us, and the ones that your head maid, Lilith gave us." Mr. Wong took the files.

Mr. Wong smiled to them apologetically. "I gave you the ones that were given to most of the officers in the precinct. Those files are somewhat 'fudged' since they were to prevent mass hysteria from the public. This was only temporary, I meant to give you the original ones when you accepted the case."

"I see…and how much 'fudge' are contained in these files?" Naru inquired, slightly irritated that he had lost time studying tainted reports.

"I'm very sorry Shibuya-san, it's just that before SPR accepted the case, we could not give you these files out of confidence." He made a move to walk back to the door.

"If you will both follow me, we can go to my office where I have all the information that you might need."

Before they knew it, Lin and Naru were following Lee Wong to his office. They passed through the lobby, into another hallway. The marble flooring was white and clean, and the walls had huge oil paintings. There were small lights placed on the sides of the walls, every few feet to light their way. The crystals in the white pillars gleamed at them from both sides because of it.

"This place is fairly extravagant." Lin commented as he touched the crystal embedded pillars.

"Yes, my side job does help with the new additions and maintenance to this manor." He tapped on a pillar. "These sparkles you see in the pillar are actually micro diamonds in white marble."

Lin's eyes widened slightly by this realization. Naru kept walking on, without any interest.

"You see," Mr. Wong continued, "I had inherited a large portion of this hill from my grandfather. It includes the forests and the marshes below. But, unknown to the public, this hill has a diamond mine at the north end. Because my grandfather was the first to discover this mine, he was able to buy most of the real estate on this hill, and build the most luxurious manor on Himiwara." He smiled proudly.

"Is that why you told lies to the media? To not tarnish your name since the disappearances happened on your land?" Naru shot back as he walked forward.

Mr. Lee Wong waved his hands in surrender. "No, that's not it. As a primary investigator, I went along with my commanding chief, who thought it was truly best for the public to not give the details on the disappearances."

Lin and Naru glanced at each other. _Uh huh_. They stopped at a double door entrance.

"Here we are!"

The office was huge with a large table and multiple desks. It looked like a copy of the investigation department in any police precinct. In the middle of the room was a huge board with face shots of the seven missing people, as well as their case summaries underneath each picture. Naru went to look at each of them.

"As you can see," Mr. Wong said, "these have very peculiar distinctions. For one, if you look carefully at the times of each disappearance, they are all occur between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. Most likely, they happened around midnight. Another thing is, all of the missing people attend night class at Himiwara University, and have assumed to have disappeared along the main route and the bike route."

"The hour between days." Naru mumbled to himself. "Midnight."

"Yes," Mr. Wong said, a little disturbed at his words, "midnight. Anyway, as you know the case has a total of seven missing persons, their names are: Ryuji Matsumoto, Kumiko Chen, Mika Petrov, Sebastian West, Jira Hayashi, Jen Setsuna, and Hiroshi Tanaka." Mr. Wong paused. "Another peculiarity is they are all orphans, a mix of Japanese, Chinese, Russian, and American. Because of it, we initially suspected it might have been a terrorist group targeting certain students from Himiwara. But of course no evidence points to this."

Naru came to the last case picture. "Are those the _only_ similarities between them?"

"As far as I know yes. Oh wait! They also disappeared on nights like this, where the fog is very thick. I remember because we could not send the search parties out immediately."

"What is the history on both Mulberry Lane and the adjacent bike trail? Any major accidents before the seven missing?"

"No, the usual car accidents. No deaths."

"Any other unusual occurrences or hauntings in this area?"

"No…well…" Wong scratched his chin. "There are some students who complain of loud noises coming from the north end, around the diamond mine. But we usually wave it off as noises from mining."

"What kind of sounds? Can you explain them to me?" Naru inquired, as he looked sharply at him.

"W-well, they're kind of gurgling noises, and small blasts. Mind you, I've never really heard anything myself, I just here the noises from the mine." Mr. Wong turned away from the intensity of his stare.

Naru sat down in one of the seats.

"I would like to check the area around there." He said simply.

"If you must…" Mr. Wong trailed off.

Naru turned to look at Lin. The older man stood in front of a large map that covered one side of the wall. It showed Himiwara hill, with the University and the Manor in the upper region. It showed the bike trail winding down, as well as the Mulberry lane next to it. But it was the mountainous area around Kokubu, the same small city that Himiwara University overlooked, that Lin had his eyes on.

"The terrain itself is interesting," he pointed at the Kirishima mountain range and drew a circle in the air.

"Doesn't it look like Kokubu is surrounded and locked in by the Kirishima?"

"Yes. Himiwara is actually the closest part of the mountain range to Kokubu, the rest of it surrounds the city, but it takes a few miles to walk from the city towards the range. Whereas the people who live on Himiwara can just take a quick car ride or bike ride down to the city below. Haha! That's why the residents on Himiwara pay a good amount of money for their mansions here. It has a great view and is closest to the city. I am really lucky!" His rolex glinted in the light.

Naru rolled his eyes. For some reason, he could never get along with rich old men. They were frivolous, and spent their time doing nothing but buying more, and showing off to others. He took out the crystals Takigawa gave him in the car and started to roll them in his hand. For some reason, he felt his mind clear from the anxiety of losing Mai, as well as the irritation he held for Mr. Lee Wong.

"Where did you get those?" Naru's head shot up to look at Mr. Wong. His hand closed instinctively around the crystals.

"A friend gave them to me."

Mr. Wong's eyes fixated on the little golf ball sized rocks that sparkled in his hand.

"Those are quite valuable. You may want to keep them in a safer place. I have a master safe hidden away in the house if you would like to put them there-"

Naru waved his free hand. "No thanks, there are some things that I would like to keep with me…Despite the circumstances." Naru was about to pocket the crystals once more, when something he saw interrupted him. From the corner of his peripheral vision, he saw a white streak through the crack of the door.

_Ghost?_

It stopped right behind it. An eye peered through. It looked straight at Naru. Lin and Wong noticed that Naru was intently looking at the door, and they turned to follow his vision.

"Naru, what is it…" Lin started.

Abruptly, the door flew open, and a small girl, no more than 7 years old charged at Naru. Her long black hair contrasted with her white nightgown made her look like a ghost. She immediately target Naru's hand- the one that held the crystals. She grabbed for them and tried to wrench them out, twisting Naru's arm in the process.

Naru made a move to grab the girl and steady her away from him, when two arms encircled her stomach. She was forcefully yanked away, and nearly flipped over from the movement.

"Kana!" Wong screamed as Lin pinned the girl against himself. The girl trembled into Lin's shirt, and said nothing. Only soft sobs could be heard from her.

"You! What do you think you're doing?!" Wong growled at her. Lin released her from his hold and she stood up trembling slightly to face Wong. He was shaking in fury as he grabbed her shoulders.

"How dare you treat our guests that way! I told you to stay in your room until you calmed down. I will have Lilith escort you there, and you may not come out until TOMORROW!" He walked to the double doors and stuck his head out to talk to a servant.

Kana stood trembling in front of Naru. Her black hair strung around her face, while strands stuck haphazardly to her huge black eyes. She had defeat and misery written all over her. _That's not a look normal for children to have,_ Naru thought, as he took out a handkerchief and held it out to her. She tried to brush her tears with her sleeve. The whole time, she only stared sadly back at Naru, as he continued to hold the handkerchief out to her.

She shook her head_. _Instead she pointed at Naru's other hand. For some reason, he felt the crystals start to move around in his palm, as if they were trying to get free. Naru clenched his hand shut, and eyed the girl.

"Sorry miss, I can't give this to you," he said softly. "I'm looking for my friend, and I was told that I would need these."

The girl nodded in understanding and slumped her shoulders forward. The crystals became motionless.

"Pa…papa…" she said hoarsely.

Her voice was so small and pathetic - it nearly broke Lin's heart. Naru knelt in front of her and put the handkerchief in her hand.

"I'm sure your papa," Naru glanced over at Mr. Wong, "will forgive you. Is there a reason why you need these so much? Your papa has a lot of nice things … I'm sure he can give you a lot of toys instead…"

Kana shook her head violently, and seized Naru's arm, pulling him down with her. She started to sob again into his sleeve. Lin looked at the girl in confusion. She was small for her age, and rather skinny. He felt his heart go out to her as she clutched onto Naru.

"No…not papa…"

A shadow stood over him, and Naru turned his face upward. Steely green eyes locked with his own.

Lilith touched the young girl's arm, and gently got her back to her feet.

"Now Kana, there's no need to trouble these gentleman any further. Let's go to your room where you can get some rest." Lilith said, while taking the girl's hand. Before walking out, she took one last look over her shoulder. The expression on her face was no longer held any feelings of misery…it was replaced by something else.

_Worry?_ Naru thought to himself. _What was that about?_

"I'm so sorry gentleman," Wong's voice broke him out of his train of thoughts, "that was my adopted daughter. I only adopted her 3 weeks ago. She is still having trouble adjusting to this place…and to me."

"Does she usually have these kinds of tantrums with new guests?" Lin asked, as he took one last glimpse of her before she walked out the door.

"Well she usually doesn't have much contact with outsiders. Also," he said a little more soberly, "she was diagnosed with acute bipolar schizophrenia. She hasn't spoken a word to me or any of the servants. But," his face brightened slightly, "when she's not having an episode, she is a very sweet little girl."

Lin tapped his chin. Naru put his hands in his pockets and sat down.

"I didn't know children could get diagnosed with schizophrenia at such a young age. I admire that you would adopt a child despite having that kind of disease." Lin said thoughtfully.

He sighed, and sat down in one of the leather chairs. "Well to tell you the truth," he ran his hand through his hair, "that child is special. I noticed it when I first met her at the adoption agency. All her toys were broken around her. Many times the social workers would often quit after seeing some unusual events. Toys floating, things moving on their own… "

"You mean…"

"She has PK abilities…telekinesis."

_Knock. Knock._

One of the servants popped their head in.

"Master Wong? There is a phone call for you from your client in Kokubu's main office."

Wong got up out of his seat and bowed to the Lin and Naru.

"If you will excuse me gentlemen, I need to take this call. Please feel free to make yourselves comfortable. You can use any one of my servants if you need anything at all. I will be back shortly."

He shut the door and left. Lin leaned on the table and Naru sat in the chair, fiddling with something in his sleeve pocket.

"So, someone else with PK abilities, huh..." Naru muttered to himself, as he took something out of his pocket and analyzed it in his hand.

Lin started to pile case summaries and maps on the desk. "Besides that, Naru… what is your plan in finding Mai? I think we should cast a spell to open up the gateway to the Interim Mundo, we have enough time to do so. "

"I don't have enough time. Neither does Mai." he said, still looking at his hands. Now he had the crystals out.

Lin made a stern expression before walking closer up to Naru. He folded his arms. "Don't tell me you're going after her now! We need all our spiritual energies combined just to stabilize a gateway into it - that means waiting for everyone until 6 a.m. Besides, there is nothing you can do for her until then…" he paused to see Naru still fixated with the items in his hand.

"Naru?"

Lin leaned over to see.

In Naru's palm was a silver necklace with three charm pendant holders. Each pendant was made up of silver wires that could contain a charm, much like the necklaces that held \ wishing pearls. Although these holders were slightly different: they were big enough to hold rocks. Naru gingerly put each crystal in a holder and clasped the necklace around his neck.

"Where did you get that device?"

He unbuttoned his collar and put the necklace inside, hiding the crystals from plain view.

"Our little friend slipped it into my sleeve pocket," He replied while flipping his collar over the chain. "She seems to know a lot about these crystals."

Lin eyed him warily. "More than you, Naru. Your first time using them may be your last." he warned.

"Did you call Madoka, and tell her to send _that_ person?" Naru inquired, changing the subject.

"Yes, she said he was on his way…but Naru, we can't do anything right now. We still need to history on this place, and information from the witnesses that were involved. We need to take this case step by step, as we did with the other case. Also, we are dealing with a different plane here…Like all Interim Mundos, the spiritual energy is unstable, as well as the demons that reside in it. It is a MUST that we proceed with caution."

Naru walked over to Wong's desk, and searched through a pile of maps. He picked one up, and put it under his arm.

"This Interim Mundo is unnatural... You know it. That means the gateway can also be made under certain conditions. A certain time, even."

"You are not thinking about souls' hour?"

Naru smirked and went on choosing papers from the desk. He picked a folder with the real case summaries. "I have obtained all the information I needed from Mr. Wong. I just need one more thing…"

The room illuminated as lightning flashed outside the windows.

"…and there it is." Naru grabbed a small map off Wong's desk and walked briskly out the room…with a very angry Lin in tow.

Lin looked at him, eyes widened. _He can't be serious…Naru is not thinking of just rushing in?_

"Naru, what you are doing is extremely reckless. I am your guardian! Although Mai is very important, it is YOUR life that is in my care!" It was very few times that Lin's voice did not have a gentle tone in it. However, this was the first time that Lin was close to screaming at him. "You are completely leaving this plane, and you haven't even considered taking others with you! That in itself needs some time and planning for your departure! This is very unlike you, Naru!"

"I've already planned for this. Ever since we left SPR less than three hours ago." Naru lifted up a ready-made pack of clothes and supplies sitting in the parlor, and held it up to Lin to prove his point. Afterwards, he stowed away the folder, under his arm, into the backpack.

"So you knew it was an Interim Mundo, even before you connected with Mai?" Lin said incredulously.

"Yes and no." Naru paused and gave Lin a small bag. "I've linked myself to this. You will be able to use your shiki and communicate with me while I am in there. This will ease any worries you have for me."

Lin peered inside the bag. It was a cardboard cut-out of a man. A hitogata… _how did he have time to make this…and without my help? _

Naru started to head out the door. "Tell Wong-san and Lilith that I am touring the city."

Lin sighed. He could not compete with Naru when he was this stubborn. _Martin and Luella Davis were definitely going to have me fired when they find out._ Lin could not believe Naru was just rushing into it. After 5 years of working together in Japan, he thought he could predict his actions easily…

"I didn't think you were the type to risk your life like this…" Lin called out to him.

"That's not true. For Mai, I would risk more than just my life."

Lin was left speechless. _Who the hell was he talking to?_ When was it that Naru changed this much…for her…? He just couldn't believe it. _Well I guess he does have those emotions after all…_

Naru smirked and looked behind him. "I'll be back in a few hours." He said nonchalantly, but paused before walking out.

"And keep watch over that child…Kana."

He closed the door.

Xxx

**2:50 a.m.**

"Who are you?" Ayako asked, while taking a step forward.

"Me? Well, I'm just an old man sitting….with my comrade here." He said as he gently patted the bird's feathers.

"THAT is your comrade? Isn't it more like your pet?" Takigawa asked, pointing at the bird. In turn, the bird gave it one evil glared and ruffled its wings. Lightning and thunder boomed around them and a bolt shot dangerously close to Takigawa's foot.

"Ohh, you better not do that young man. You should have some reverence for a god." His silver eyes gleamed at them warningly. "Or you may lose your life."

Takigawa gulped. He really disliked dealing with huge powerful animals. Especially ones that could vaporize him in an instant.

"Your names?" Ayako asked, stepping forward until she was right in front of the old man.

"We both have many names, but you can call me Kami, and you can call him Lei-kun, the thunder god of the sky."

"What are you doing here?"

Kami's silver eyes twinkled mischievously as he glanced down into the forest below.

"So many questions for a couple who just looks like they are taking stroll." He paused as he jumped down from the perch. "We are here to meet someone."

"It must be someone important, if they need the power of a god." Takigawa said, inching away from the bird. Its eyes still gleamed murderously at Takigawa.

"Someone important indeed." Kami said soberly. "We are also here to help balance what is unbalanced at that moment."

Takigawa ran a hand through his air in frustration. "Old man! You're speaking in riddles. If you're talking about the Interim Mundo, just say it." He had enough of all the confusing information he was getting. All he wanted now were just straight and direct answers.

"But you haven't even introduced yourselves." He smiled playfully. "Although I'm somewhat surprised that you even know what Interim Mundo is."

"Fine!" Takigawa pointed at himself. "I'm Houshou Takigawa," he outstretched a hand out towards Ayako, " and this is Ayako Matsuzaki." He said grumpily. "and we just found out about the Interim Mundo. Can you give us any more information?"

The old man sat on a nearby rock and stroked his long white beard.

"…And what do I get in return if I tell you?"

"The satisfaction of helping another human being?" Takigawa said hopefully. "I doubt you want anything monetary."

"You're right. I see you have some brains after all." Laughed the old man. Takigawa just clenched his fist at the insult. _Keep the peace monk, that's one of the basic things about being one_. Bou-san thought to himself. Outwardly, he forced a smile.

"If you know anything please, please tell us," Ayako begged, "our precious friend is in there, and we believe her to be in great danger."

Kami frowned as he turned to Ayako. He looked as if he was remembering something. "Mai Taniyama. She fell into the cracks less than three hours ago. Lei-kun here," He said as the bird flew to him, "he saw the whole thing." He paused and smiled sadly, "That girl's soul was going to purged, so like the others before her, he pushed her into the Interim Mundo."

Ayako stared at him in disbelief.

"Pushed? Others?"

"Yes, she encountered a type of demon that is able to devour souls. Lei-Kun acted quickly and had her pushed into the gateway. However, I can feel that she is alive, albeit exhausted."

Ayako and Takigawa breathed in a sigh of relief. At least she was alive.

"So how do we get her out?" Takigawa asked. They now had a confirmation she was in there…

"_You_ won't be getting her out at all." A voice said roughly behind them. In a few moments, a slightly disheveled Naru appeared turning the corner. He wore a large backpack, a heavy coat, and weather boots.

"NARU?! Shouldn't you be at the manor…! What in the world is going on?!" Ayako shouted. The old man just laughed grimly.

"Ah, the dark prince has appeared to save his princess."

Naru narrowed his eyes at Kami, but bowed respectfully to him. He bowed again to Lei-kun, who had stopped glaring daggers at Takigawa for the moment in order to greet Naru.

"I deeply appreciate your efforts to be out here for myself, and my team's behalf." He said reverently.

"Well you are somewhat late. I have only five minutes to brief you before you go."

"WHAT???!!! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" Ayako and Takigawa yelled together.

"NARU! Are you planning to go in there by yourself? WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? NOT ONLY WILL YOU DIE, BUT WE WILL NEVER GET MAI OUT!"  
"We need to go with you, that place is seriously scary and mysterious, there are soul purgers and everything! You need some major help man!"

Kami held up his hand to both Takigawa and Ayako.

"Sorry everyone, this is a one-man trip. We are, after all, creating a gateway. It is only powerful enough for one, and it will take all of mine and Lei-kun's energy."

"Naru, can we just wait for everyone please? It will be only another three hours until Madoka, Yasuhara, John, and Masako get here." Ayako pleaded with him.

"That is three hours too late. Mai is in great danger at every hourly interval. I need to get to her NOW." He stood turned to stand at the edge of the cliff.

"Wha? Naru, what do you mean at every hourly interval? That doesn't make any sense!" Ayako screamed at him, she was close to just yanking him off the cliff and forcefully taking him home. She outstretched her arm to grab him by the coat collar. _Where's a damn tranquilizer when you need one?_

The old man stared down Ayako, his eyes stopping her from grabbing Naru. His silver eyes glinted in the light, as he gently put his hand on her shoulder.

"Naru is right. 3 a.m. is just the right time for him to depart. It is the souls' midnight, where spirits are the most awake and wandering around. It is a time of high spiritual energy. The veil that separates us and the Interim Mundo is the weakest at this time." He let go of her shoulder.

"If he goes, he must do it now." He turned and walked over to Naru, and whispered something in his ear.

Ayako could only stand back and watch. Takigawa put his arm around her supportively, and checked his watch.

**2:59 a.m.**

"We'll be waiting for you, Naru. You and Mai." Takigawa whispered. Lightning and thunder surrounded the them violently.

_Boom._

At the same time, Lei-kun flew to the air, flapping his wings majestically. Blue lightning started to flash around them as he soared higher, straight into the brownish cloud covering above them. A bird- shaped shadow could be seen darting through the clouds intricately, as blue lights blazed in the heavens.

_Boom._

"Off you go." The old man said, as he stepped back.

_Boom._

Naru closed his eyes.

He took a deep breath and jumped.


	4. Breaking Point

_Disclaimer: I don't own ghost hunt. Never have, and never will._

_Hi again…it's been a while since the last update. Its 5am and I am pooped! Well here's the next installment. The chap ties in with the previous ones, so you may need to skim the ch. 1,2, and 3 if you forgot. _

_Thanks so much again for all your support!!! :D btw this chapter is darker and more violent than the previous. I even scared myself o.o _

_Enjoy! Happy spring break (if you have one.)_

_*******************************************************************************_

_Good god._

Lin stared at the endless amounts of books in another "mini" library, as Wong-san called it. The bookshelves were 15 feet high, and there were two winding staircases on each side leading to the second floor. In the center of the library were leather chairs for reading and leisure, with lamps and tables to boot. _'This definitely does not describe the word 'mini''_ he thought as he walked up the staircase.

Due to Naru's one-man search and rescue, Lin went off to research for particular books before the others arrived. All he had to go on was a few notes Naru marked in the case files, and whatever information he could get on the area. _Well, at least there's the hitogata…I can communicate in dreamscape at the bare minimum. _

He let out another sigh. Who knew Naru could be so reckless?

Lin ran his hand down another bookshelf, and picked up a random book.

_Interim Mundo: The Seventh Circle of Hell. _

_A book of demons_, Lin thought, as he quickly looked through the pages, He could not believe this whole library division was devoted only to the supernatural. There were many books that were hundreds of years old, and worth just as much. Looking around, he saw a plethora of different supernatural works, witchcraft, voodoo, crystal guiding, exorcism, and much more. Needless to say, if Lin needed to find references for what was going on, he would fare better here than any online search engine.

He continued to look through the heavy and fragile book (it was rather old), and thumbed through illustrations of grotesque creatures. Who knew the interim mundo could house so many beings? _If Mai was in there_…Lin stopped at the thought. No wonder Naru was such in a hurry to get to her. Mai attracts dangerous spirits to her in the way garbage meat attracts dogs.

As he continued to browse through the book, something caught his eye. Lin stared at a picture, taking in every detail. In the middle of the page, A black and white drawing popped out at him. It showed a white, pale faced being, with no eyes, and claws the size of an average kitchen knife. It had a figure that almost looked feminine, but was too disfigured to be categorized as a woman.

_Wasn't there something in the file that described this…?_

"You won't get what you want out of that one. It's just a picture book." A small voice called out to him.

Jolted by the sudden voice, Lin made a quick turn of his head, so quick it almost gave him whiplash. He was welcomed by a thin figure of the young girl earlier…Kana. She stood at the doorway, casting a long dark shadow into the library. Peering up at him with her shining ghostly eyes, she gave him a crooked smile. If she had not been wearing teddy bear pajamas and fluffy pink slippers, he would have immediately categorized her as a ghost.

"Good evening, Kana-kun." Lin greeted her politely, while doing a small head bow.

Lin remembered that Naru seemed to have a strange connection with her, even going so far as to ask him to look after her. Now, what exactly did he need to do? Did Naru think she was in some kind of danger in the manor? It seemed like Wong-san cared for her deeply, even taking her in despite her mental condition.

Walking over to Lin, she put a pale hand on his shoulder. In turn, he returned the book back to its place, and crouched down to her level.

"Hello, Kana-kun." He said, while bowing his head slightly. "I suppose we haven't been properly introduced. I'm Lin from SPR. We've come to help your new dad to solve the situation here. He's been kind enough to direct me to this library."

Kana withdrew her hand slowly, and stared up at Lin seriously. "He's not my dad." She turned her face away. "Just like how that picture book is not a real book." With that, she tilted her head sharply, only to focus on a bookshelf in the opposite side of the room.

Slowly the shelf on the room began to shake and a single large red book came flying out - Coming straight towards Lin. It zoomed over to him within seconds, stopping to hover in front of Lin's widened eyes.

_Impressive._

"This is better." Kana said even more quietly, pointing a small finger at the hovering book.

"I see, thank you. But how did you know this if this is a book I need?" Lin inquired. Kana shook her head, and put a finger to lips, indicating to not speak. Grasping his hand gently, she led him towards the library's tables.

While they got comfortable in their seats, two very specific things happened next: Kana shut the door quietly with a slight hand movement. Two, in that moment of the door closing, Lin felt as if the sounds around him silence. This was much different than merely "toning down" but rather any other sounds, like birds chirping outside, or the slight hum of wind against the windows, all vanished. She smiled innocently at Lin and signaled he was free to talk.

Lin was amazed. The little slip of a girl who sat swinging her fluffy slippers- a girl who could barely peer over a small desk- could already make sound barriers, and use her telekinetic power quite easily. Lin had no idea how vast the girl's power extended. To top it off, his shiki could not get an accurate power reading on her.

Lin smiled gently, as he put his hand on the book. "Are you not supposed to be resting? You used quite a bit of energy earlier. From what I understood, even your _guardian _even said to stay in your room?"

She thumbed the book casually. "It's hard to keep me in one place." She smiled up again innocently. "You DO want to know about Himiwara, don't you, mister Lin?"

"It would be most generous if could help." Lin said politely, while looking at the red book in front of him. The title was written in golden letters: _Absconditus. _The book intrigued him. The English term for Absconditus was 'concealed._' Hmm…_

She stared at him with shining eyes. "I really like you, Mr. Lin. I also like the other mister earlier too."

Lin continued thumbing through the red book, the amount of specific information was more than enough to start listing some possible causes of the interim mundo. Unlike the book earlier, this one had provided illustrations along with descriptions of various creatures, warnings, and ways to destroy or appease them.

"Thank you. I'm sure we don't deserve such attention." Lin said humbly, while still focusing on the pages.

"Yes you do." A small hand swiftly reached for the book. "We all are the same."

Lin's eyes flicked up at her, curious of her meaning.

"You, me, and the other mister, we can all break things…things normal people can't break." She repeated, in a sing song voice.

"What do you mean by that, Kana?"

She opened the book in front of Lin and flipped through the pages, appearing not to have heard what he had said. After a few moments of haphazardly flipping the pages in the book, she stopped abruptly on one page, and slid the book back to Lin. Her face deadpanned.

"He is going to need your help. They've decided to go after him. "

In the middle was the same figure he had saw in the previous book, but looked a lot more familiar to him. In this picture, the disfigured form rode on a chariot of black smoke and fire, and held small skulls in one hand, while pulling the chariot cords with the other. Small gold lights glowed in its deep black sockets.

Two bold words stood out on the bottom of the image, along with a short description.

**Soul Eater. **Demons or evil beings that feed off the raw energy of humans. Energy is extracted by pulling and devouring the soul, ultimately killing the human prey…

Lin's eyes widened. "Isn't this…?" He had started to say, while noticing there was an extensive amount of information written about her.

"…Mister Lin, make sure he uses those magic stones."

Lin looked up at her seriously. "What do you know about them…? How do you know about all this?" But before Lin could start his interrogation, he was cut off by Kana reaching for her throat.

Kana, who had been sitting calmly a few moments ago, was currently trying to strangle herself.

"Kana…What are you doing? Stop!"

_What in the world is she doing? Is she choking on something?_ It seemed almost impossible, but she was turning paler than when she was earlier. "Lin…san…" She choked out.

"Kana!" He yelled, jumping in to pry her own fingers off her neck. Her huge black eyes rolled back, with the whites of her eyes only visible. Her lips started to turn a dull blue, as she choked out a few words. Saliva kept running down her neck, and her eyes were watering.

"It's Ok…Listen…"

_What?!_ Lin could not believe what he was hearing. Was she being possessed?

She withdrew her hands off her neck, and stared at the wall. She seemed to no longer notice Lin's presence, but at the same time, she looked slightly off. Her eyes shined in a weird and disturbing way, almost like a patient in a mental hospital. She jumped up from her seat and spoke with a very MASCULINE voice.

The girl standing in front of him was no longer Kana.

"…_I…I want his power."_

Kana mimicked a female voice as a response.

"_Master, how do you even know he has such power? I think you are overestimating him."_

"_No he has it. I can feel it. The massive power of destruction, and creation…the power I need to free myself from this miserable place."_

"_But his body will break, and then be will be useless once more."_

"_Break his mind. Make him suffer to the point of releasing his energy. Contain him, and then bring him to me."_

"_As you wish."_

She started to sway now, while Lin dove to catch her. He set her down in one of the seats in the room, while starting to perform a small cleansing ritual. This would at least help her gain her energy. Whereas he could rely on Ayako to look after any other injuries when she returns. But what the hell had just happened? After taking a moment to collect his thoughts, he had to make a few decisions: should he believe what Kana said, or was that just a part of her mental condition? Did she even _have_ a mental condition? This looked more like a psychic event that Masako-san, a medium, would have.

If it is that kind of event, she was no schizophrenic. Also, it would mean that Naru was in immediate danger. Keeping his calm demeanor, Lin stopped his train of erratic thoughts to assess the facts. She knew about the crystals. She was probably the one that left Naru that necklace-contraption to hold the crystals. She knows about the interim mundo, even going so far as to show him particular books, and point out a SPECIFIC demon. Lin's thoughts went wild, but he was able to slowly come to a conclusion:

_Speaking of which, that monster…a soul eater…will usually take the form of women, and seduce men into taking their souls. Soul eaters have to break the spirit first to even get domination over someone's shiki, often using the weaknesses or fears of the victim to do so._ _If that's the case, then the conversation that Kana was repeating must be true._

Lin took some pillows and propped them snugly under Kana's head. He stared at her innocent face and made a decision. _For now, I'll trust her leads, and verify them as we continue the investigation_.

As Lin continued to make the girl comfortable, the words said earlier echoed in his mind: It's true that Naru can break things no one else could break. But how will he fare when a demon will try to do the same thing to him?

***flashback***

"What did I tell you about breaking your toys?" A woman knelt in the middle of a room, cradling a five year old boy in her arms. "Look at you! You're as pale as a ghost. I told you what would happen when you use your powers…" She laid him on a nearby sofa, and started to pick up the shattered pieces of a Nintendo. She was obviously angry and a little scared.

Suddenly sniffing the air, she looked as if something dreadful was coming into her nose. Her eyes darted around the room to stop at the offending object. She lost all the color in her face as she stared at what used to be the game console.

"Honey! Honey, come here!"

"What is it?" A large, grey haired man walked into the room, tea in hand. Following the direction his wife was staring, he spilled the content of tea all over the floor.

The once new Nintendo game console was now on fire.

"Holy moly. That's the first…"

A completely blue fire fumed on the surface of the console, but did not spread to anything else. It looked like its only goal was to devour the game console only.

She grabbed her husband and took him to the kitchen. With one last look at her son, who lay silently on the couch staring at the ceiling, she said sweetly, "Honey, just rest there ok? I'm just going to talk to daddy for a second."

The boy continued to lie on the sofa, listening to the hushed whispers of his parents.

"_This is not so bad. At least he didn't blow the electric fuses again, I mean it's not like that time when the whole town had a black out. It's just a small fire. Please don't be so over stressed."_

"_I'm scared he will really hurt himself one day! Look how frail he is! Not to mention, he can cause fire in this house! I'm at my wits end darling…our other son too, he also says strange things. He says he see the future…! The other day, he said that old Mrs. Murphy should stop driving, and she died from a car accident that very same week!"_

"_That's just coincidence dear."_

"_Also! They keep talking to people who don't exist. They keep saying another boy lives in this house, but there's no one there!"_

"_They're just imaginary friends…kids always have imaginary friends at this age."_

"_Honey. I can't take this anymore…"_

"_What do you want ME to do about it?"_

"_Nothing we can't do anything about it. Maybe there are other people who can…I heard of a couple in England who specializes in these kinds of cases."_

"_What are you saying? You want to give the boys away?!!!" _

"_I'm saying that at this rate, they'll end up killing themselves…and us."_

The boy lay on the couch for some time, silently listening to his parents. It looked like a deep heavy rock started to build on top of his heart, keeping him from breathing properly. His parents were fighting over him again...

"All I wanted was to defeat Bowser, and then the whole system caught on fire." He quietly muttered to himself. "I'm going to become smarter, and control myself better… then mom and dad wouldn't be fighting so much…"

Two small shadows cast over him, putting a halt to his depressing chain of thoughts. Blue eyes stared back into his own.

"I guess you didn't get the princess." A voice said, disappointed.

The boy looked up, only to be staring at his brother, which was very much like staring at a mirror. They were the same in every way, except the boy tended to destroy things more than he did. The other shadow was cast by their new friend, Lin. This was a big deal, considering the two brothers usually just stick with each other.

"No. The game caught on fire." The boy replied in monotone.

His brother's eyes became round as saucers. "Do you think we can still make smores?! Where's the Nintendo?"

The boy became silent again. He turned his back away from them and faced the couch. Quietly he mumbled out, "I don't want to go into the kitchen."

Their new friend sat down gracefully next to Naru's feet, making himself comfortable. But his brother stared at the boy curiously, while still standing above his head. After a few seconds of being stared at, the sickly boy turned to look at his brother, irritation apparent on his face.

"What?"

Suddenly two little hands grabbed the sides of the boy's face and stretched his mouth.

"You're such a grouch, Noll! Don't worry about them. They're just like two fighting chickens." In the next moment, his brother started to wave his arms and cluck, while kicking and pecking on the ground.

"Right Lin?! Come on, you do it too!"

His friend smiled slightly, and turned to look at the boy. He made a feeble 'cluck', but absolutely refused to peck and claw at the ground.

The boy couldn't help but smile at this. Suddenly a hand grasped his arm and yanked him out of the couch.

"Come on, Na-RU! Let's go get some mallows and chocolate!" His eyes twinkled at the boy. "Besides," he added, while pulling him to the door that held the arguing couple. "As long as we're together, we don't need them. Who knows, we might even get better parents!"

***end flashback***

Lin remembered that day...since it was exactly two days later that they were told they were going to an orphanage. He still remembered that Naru almost killed himself again by blowing up all the cars in front of the Children's Home, after his parents left without so much as a goodbye.

It was only when they were teenagers when Lin started to train Naru in controlling his PK. He was able to control small blasts, a little at a time, before being thoroughly exhausted. After a certain point, the energy always, ALWAYS exploded out of him, without any control or limitations. Because of this, Naru was forbidden to produce flames.

Even though the blue flame shiki was not particularly used for destruction, but rather for purification (according to Lin's studies) especially during exorcisms, he only trained Naru to be able to extinguish the flame if produced, rather than methods of manipulating it.

_Although…I do remember seeing Naru and Gene eating smores in their bedroom once in a while…_

Lin smiled to himself. Martin and Luella even said they were far more concerned about the house burning down with their boys, than just a few little black outs.

Lin sighed, and sat down in seat adjacent to the now unconscious Kana. Out of all things he has been through with Naru and Gene, he wished the most for their safety. He already lost Gene; he did NOT want to lose Naru too. After one quick look to check on Kana's sleeping form, Lin grabbed the _Absconditus_, his laptop, and went to work.

_Only a few more hours until the others get here…_

***

"You look lost."

Mai blinked her eyes one more time to see the tall blonde and an outstretched hand towards her.

"…You could say that."

Bright blue eyes twinkled back at her. She felt a strong sense of relief surge through her in an instant. "I'm Sebastian, my friends and I have been lost in here too. It's been a couple days since we've seen someone." Sebastian gestured at the red head next to him. "This is Mika."

Mai blinked to focus on the two dazzling people in front of her. "Hi, I'm Mai Taniyama. I just got lost down here in the forest a few hours ago."

My got up, and brushed the dirt off of her.

"I'm looking for a way out. Can you help me?"

"…we are ALL looking for a way out." Sebastian replied quietly. However, Mai now had her full attention on the beautiful girl standing in front of her.

The girl stretched a hand out and gently took her hand. The woman had bright red hair, and had such a gentle expression her face. She had the aura of a princess, with half lidded hazel eyes and not to mention, great posture. Sebastian put an arm around her, as she smiled shyly at Mai.

In fact, both Sebastian and Mika had looked rather regal for people her age. There was something about them that set them apart from normal people. _Like me_, Mai thought to herself. Nonetheless, Mai brightened up at the thought of being with other people in the large forest. With a few more words of introductory exchange, she felt a wave of ease flow over her. Mai was immediately reminded how comforting it felt when working in a group versus being alone.

When her parents passed away, she got used to the loneliness and doing things by herself…but since she joined SPR, her life became more exciting and thrilling - they almost felt like a family to her. She felt her heart pain a little, knowing that they would probably be worried about her.

Except for Naru, no…nothing could faze that guy when he's doing business. He was probably barking out orders to everyone by now, grouchy as hell without his damn tea.

Looking at Sebastian and Mika was like looking at a perfectly matched couple … absolutely the opposite of her and Naru. Heck, he probably barely thought of her as a friend.

She felt something hurt her chest. No matter how hard she tried to hide it and forcefully lock away her feelings, in the back of her mind she was always calling for him. Even though she loved Gene wholeheartedly, it was Naru that made her hate and love him at the same time. HE was the one that got her heart racing when they went out on cases together. He was the one who offered her support, and changed her life forever by inviting her into SPR. But…it he was also the one who still didn't give a damn about her, even though she had stupidly confessed her love to him at the airport.

Mai blinked violently, and gave an inward shake of her head. _Dammit Mai! This is not the time or the place to feel like this!_ Mai screamed at herself. _You still need to find a way out of here, or you really never will see him again…_

Now, there was the still a third person she needed to be introduced to. Mai suddenly had a very unpleasant sensation fill her.

She turned around immediately to see dark eyes staring at her.

He looked of European-asian descent, about medium build, but had striking features. If he had not gotten the soil on his clothes, he probably would look like those typical rich kids on Tokyo TV…the ones that were too good for anybody. The boy looked at her critically, as if sizing her up. A moment later, he clicked his tongue and laughed at her mockingly.

Mai immediately wanted to punch the guy in the face.

"Please, save me from the friendly introductions." He scoffed. In the next moment, he swiftly turned his heel, and put his attention on the tall blonde.

"Sebastian. Do we need to really need to pair up with this girl? We can probably get along better with just us."

Mai had encountered many types of people in her life, but this was the first time she felt such hostility and burning hate from someone she _literally_ just met. First impressions, eh? Mai gulped and took a deep breath. He simply kept his head turned, as if there wasn't a bewildered and fuming girl standing in front of him. His whole body language screamed 'get the hell out of my face' as he continued to ignore her.

Gasps from Sebastian and Mika exploded beside her.

"JIRA, you can at _least_ listen to her story before you decide to leave her behind!" Mika said, stunned by his actions.

Jira's eyes dead locked back onto Mai's. He clicked his tongue, and shook his head. "It's no good. After seeing what she did to that _sinestra_, I already know what kind of person she is."

Mai's mouth gaped open. Seriously, was this guy on crack? She felt her blood pressure go up out of the sheer rudeness that was being pelted at her. What nerve! On top of it all, she did not know what in the hell he was talking about. Maybe the evil black goo that almost killed her? She squeezed the straps that dangled on the side of her backpack. It was the only thing keeping her from lashing out.

Instantly, Mai put on a dazzlingly fake smile, hoping to diffuse the situation. "Look, I don't know what this sinestra is, but you can explain to me later. We need a plan to get out of here. In this forest we need to work together to find a way out, so let's try to understand each other. I have a feeling this is no ordinary place." Mai said, adding the last part quietly.

"Mai is right." Sebastian said softly. "We need to work together so we can leave this horrible place." Mika nodded in agreement, and took her place next to Mai and Sebastian.

The dark haired boy looked back at them incredulously.

"How would she know about the type of place this is, if she didn't have some kind of supernatural powers?" With eyes still narrowed and locked on Mai, sneering. "I've heard of people like you. People who have control over things - who have abnormal abilities."

The boy named Jira continued to stare her down. "Yes, I know who you are…"

Sebastian and Mika looked in confusion between the two. Mai felt her blood pressure rise again.

"… A witch."

Mai's eyes widened in surprise. _Pffft…_ She swung her head away from him, as she tried to stop a laugh midway. This guy…really, out of all the ignorant things to say! A witch of all things …! She almost wished the others were stuck here with her, just to laugh at the outright stupidity of the situation.

While Mai tried to subdue her humor, Sebastian and Mika looked back at Jira in shock and bewilderment. It was only a few moments when they heard Mai's explosive laughter.

"Are you laughing at me, witch?! That confirms it!" Jira screamed angrily. He took a firm hold of Mika's hand.

"We can't trust her. Let's go." He commanded, while tugging her towards him.

Mai already turned around to see the exchange. Mika looked as if she was about to object by the way her wrist started to twist under Jira's firm grasp. He was literally pulling her.

"Hey wai-" Mai started, she didn't mean to make him that mad. Not intentionally anyway…and there was no reason to run off already. Besides, Mika looked REALLY uncomfortable. But before she could finish her sentence, Sebastian had grabbed Jira's offending wrist.

"Don't be so hasty, my friend." Sebastian said quietly. His previously friendly blue eyes were replaced blue shards of ice. He was inches away from Jira's face, and he was a little more than irritated. "There is no reason why you need to drag a lady."

Immediately, Jira went red in humiliation and rage. He twisted out of Sebastian's grasp, and effectively shoved Mika aside. "Fine. I don't need either of you. Besides, who called you leader, Sebastian? You've been calling the shots this whole time, and look where it's got us- Nowhere." He shot another wicked glare at Mai. "Forget this shit. I'll find my own way out."

With one more glowering look, he started to walk away briskly. He was already had gone a few feet, before Mai could say anything. Mika looked at him with her eyes wide in horror, absolutely baffled that Jira would even think of leaving them.

"Wait hold on, sorry…" Mai called out to him, she couldn't help but feel a little guilty."No you're wrong. If you're talking about the black ooze as the sinestra, I never stopped it. If I had gone a little farther into its territory, you know, I would have been killed for sure. You don't need to go, Jira."

Sebastian smiled, and relaxed his shoulders. "See Jira, the girl's already explaining herself. Now let's just stay together, and we can combine our information to find a way out of this place. Besides," he pointed at himself, "I and everyone else seriously need some rest."

"That sounds like a good idea." Mika said quietly, while shooting Jira a let's-think-about-this-rationally- expression.

Jira still looked unimpressed. With that, Sebastian gave the girls a 'let me talk to him alone' look, and strode over to Jira (who still was a few feet a way) in a gentleman-like manner. Jira again turned his head to the side stubbornly as Sebastian approached him within a few feet.

Stopping a few inches in front of him, Sebastian lowered his head. His blue eyes locked with his dark brown ones.

"You know we need her. She has a sense of direction of this place, intuition and a plan. That beats us wandering around aimlessly…Besides," he said a little more quietly, "if, and that's a big IF, she has some kind of power over the black river of goo, than that's significantly better than ONLY relying on the protection charms of _that man_."

Jira clicked his jaw, and pressed a finger to Sebastian's chest, hard enough for him to step back from the pressure.

He gestured at Mai who was still making some friendly chat with Mika. Biting on a fingernail, he continued to scrutinize her. "That girl-she isn't normal like you and me. She's a freak! She belongs in this damn forest. I feel dirty just being around her."

Jira rubbed his arm absent-mindedly as he continued to bite a fingernail. He stared at Mai with such disgust in his eyes, as if trying to will her to disappear. It would be analogous to a person looking at a cockroach.

Sebastian smacked pointed finger away from his chest and took a step forward to Jira, immediately getting back in his face.

"Can you hear yourself talk? Get off your high horse and just stay with us. She already said that she didn't have anything to do with the black river! You're too damn paranoid! We still know nothing about her or this place! Also, if you're going to be talking about strange people, you didn't seem to mind when _that man_ came to help us." Sebastian countered.

"That was because we were about to die." Jira growled, pushing past him. "You can stay with the witch, I am going to go look for a better way out. I don't need to be relying on someone like her…or you." Jira walked slowly back into the forest, the opposite direction from the black river.

Sebastian looked soberly at his back as he walked away. "IF that's your choice then fine!" Sebastian called after him. "…just die in your ignorance." Sebastian turned to walk over to the girls.

At this point, Mai saw Sebastian coming towards them, while Jira walked briskly into the thicker woods. She stopped mid-sentence with Mika, and ran towards Sebastian.

"What the hell happened? Why is he leaving?!" Mai demanded to know. Even though she knew Jira was being a total jerk, she felt responsible for breaking up the group.

"Let him go, Mai. I've known Jira for a long time, now. Once that guy's mind is made up, he won't ever go back on it. Just like a spoiled child." He said bitterly.

_What the F-? He can't be serious that he thinks I'm a witch…is he really leaving because of that? _Mai thought to herself. Before her brain could register it, her feet rocketed towards Jira's departing figure. He was heading at a steady pace into a nearby growth of densely packed trees.

"Mai stop! Don't go so far over there…!" she heard Sebastian's voice call out to her. She just couldn't let him go. This was all a big misunderstanding, if only she could talk to him again. This forest was just too dangerous to be alone.

Mai ran straight into the dense thicket of the forest. She could feel the ground go slightly up, as her shoes dug in the rich soil. She could still see his dark figure walk slowly in front of her, dodging tree trunks, and walking around tall grasses. After a few moments of running, Mai saw the trees change around her. Tall pine woods and sequoias to gave way to more tropical looking trees and bushes. Before, the sunlight came through bits of the forest, and now did not come through at all. The trees' canopies were way too thick. Mai felt a slight chill run up her spine -It was like when she first fell, and almost died in that black ooze.

She wiped the hair out of her tired eyes, and considered going back. Her body ached from lack of sleep deprivation and the mental stress this place put on her. She still wasn't used to the diverse and dramatic environment changes, which was combined with the presence of dangerous unknown monsters/goo that could be lurking anywhere.

Mai breathed in and out, forcing air into her lungs. _Man Mai, time to get in shape._ She ignored the burning pain in her legs and the cramping in her shins. The backpack on her was getting heavy too. _Stupid me, I should have left it…_Mai stared at the figure still gliding in front of her when an idea struck her: why hadn't she caught up to him yet? She could swear she should have caught up moments ago…after all she was running…

She could hear two pairs of footsteps behind her- probably they belonged to Sebastian and Mika's.

For the first time, Mai noticed how dark it was with all these trees growing and curling around her so thickly, as if they were a part of a vegetative tunnel. They merged together to make a cylinder of branches, trunks, and leaves. Mai started to panic. _Trees bending their shape into a tunnel? That's friggen impossible! _The warped pattern the trees and also the decreasing sunlight disturbed her to the core.

To make matters worse, she had lost sight of Jira.

"JIRA??!! JIRA LET'S GO BACK!!! This place seems dangerous!!! Where are you?"

No response. The environment had really changed dramatically. She couldn't see very far above or around her. Mai felt a twinge of fear and panic rise in her chest. _What to do now?_ Mai coughed and still rejected the idea of going back. She didn't like the guy yes, but leaving him by himself was unacceptable. IF they wanted to get out of this alive and well, it would be better that they could stick together.

Finally, she again spotted Jira's dark figure standing leaning his back against a large tree. She almost missed it due to the low lighting…but now all she had to do was convince him to go back…

She walked a few more feet towards him with his back facing her.

"Jira." She huffed. "You don't *breathe* need to run *breathe* away, *breathe* let's just go back *huff* and work this out."

She touched his shoulder to have him turn around. In an instant, Mai jumped.

A familiar, cold, nauseating feeling swept over her as she tried to catch her breath. She knew this feeling. It was the same feeling she got when she fell off Himiwara- when that thing appeared on the bike trail.

Mai backed away slowly, still facing the figure in front of her. The figure she thought was Jira was now turning around slowly. Mai retreated even faster, nearly tripping on a tree root. It didn't help that she could barely see around her.

_Come here…_

_Come closer…_

Mai's survival instincts kicked in full drive. She took a quick look around her for the best escape route, planning to sprint. She was about to act, when felt the chill of bony slimy hands grab her arm. The movement jerked Mai around to become face to face with the monster behind her.

A disfigured face of a woman/creature showed itself in the dim light, millimeters away from her. Its cold hands wrapped tightly around her arms. The all too traumatizing black sockets stared back at her, as sharp teeth and decaying blue lips hovered over her face.

A blood- curdling scream echoed through the woods.

***

"Disgusting."

A black haired man arose out of black ooze, carrying a wet backpack. He wiped himself down with a towel he had in his backpack, which didn't do much since it was also wet with goo.

He trudged out of the black slime onto steady ground. He gracefully put his backpack down on drier, "cleaner" dirt, as he took out his compass.

_If I'm not mistaken, Mai should have landed somewhere around here. _

"If I was Mai, what would I do?"Naru looked for any trails around him. _I would try to get a sense of direction, almost die, and then go somewhere familiar-somewhere that would lead me home._

_Hmm… Mai always talked about some kind of cave around here. Probably an overhyped tourist spot. _Naru took out a map he had grabbed off of Wong-san's office desk. Naru, being an expert on maps since his brother died, immediately spotted the cave. Narajara…

Naru just needed to know if his assumption was correct. A faint mist surrounded him, as well as large trees. As far as he knew, no one was within a few meters. He breathed in the forest air, as he closed his eyes. He could feel that Mai passed there recently, within the last few hours. Gold strings started to appear in the darkness of his closed eyes, as he focused his whole body to feel into the energy around him.

The strings of light now turned into complicated webs that represented everything around him. He pulled on the strings and their tendrils of energy, sifting through the web structures until he found Mai's specific pattern.

He was doing what Takigawa would call 'opening the third eye.' It was something Naru was best at doing at, since it was one of the only things he could do with his abilities without having to end up at a hospital. Even so, using the third eye was a rarely used method and quite rare. It involved the control of the mind, and the ability to heighten one's senses, without using any raw physical power.

Naru smiled slightly. If only Takigawa could see him now.

**flashback**

"Isn't this like…invading someone's privacy?" Takigawa whispered.

Naru kneeled next to the famed SPR couch, which in the past few weeks, had become Mai's new bed. Lo and behold, a sleeping brown-haired girl laid peacefully in it.

Ever since she started going to night school, her SPR investigative hours were switched to early mornings. She could save time between the two, by simply staying the night at the office. Naru leaned over her sleeping form, and eyed her peaceful face. He held a smile in.

"It's because she is such an overactive idiot that I need to resort to these measures." Naru said calmly as he closed his eyes. He outstretched his palms above her.

Takigawa sat by the door watching as Naru made small wave like hand movements over her body. His fingers began to sway slightly, as if gently strumming the strings on a guitar.

"This is a VERY sensitive thing to do, Naru!" He whispered loudly. "Although invisible to the naked eye, every living thing leaves traces of themselves behind. Just like a footstep in mud, or fingerprints, all living beings leave a bit of their energy or 'essence' wherever they go. Energy mapping, (usually only reserved for the most talented of spiritual beings) is the method to find these 'essence patterns' in an open third eye state, and you are doing it without her consent!"

Naru continued to ignore him.

"…Oliver…"

He paused for a split second in the air. Turning his head slowly to Takigawa, Naru glared at him with slight irritation.

"Please refrain from using that name."

Takigawa gulped slightly, knowing that Naru reserved the use of that name for members of his family, or any of his few contacts in England.

"I still don't get how memorizing her energy makeup is going to help in this case." Takigawa mumbled.

Naru began moving to Mai's head while quietly waving his palms. His fingers made slight movements, probably in response to the energy he felt beneath them.

Still closing his eyes, he answered quietly, "It's for any future cases. She runs off chasing anything that moves, and lacks the common sense to not tell anyone first. More times than not, it's going to be something that could kill her. Knowing her essence map will make things easier for me to find her, especially when I need to distinguish her in an area containing various energy sources."

Takigawa grinned at Naru as he stood by a food cart next to the doorway. He raised an eyebrow, "So… Mai getting lo-jacked has nothing to do the feelings of love and over-protection you have for her?"

Naru now moved slowly down to Mai's feet, again, circling his palms. "Such feelings are irrelevant. This is for standard safety precautions." After a few more moments Naru retracted his arms. Opening his eyes, he walked over to his tea - which sat right next to where Takigawa was standing.

Takigawa grinned at the tea-sipping man. "If these are standard safety precautions," Takigawa said slyly, "then how come you told Lin-san that YOU wanted to perform Mai's mapping, even though HE'S the one more experienced at it?"

Crickets chirped outside the window.

Naru looked up sharply at Takigawa, gracefully picked up his tea cup, and shut the door behind him.

***end flashback***

Naru opened his eyes in horror. There was her pattern. As far as he could tell, she was in a high energy state, possibly running. All he needed to know now was location. He continued to focus his energy on the tremors in the air around him. He put his full attention the vibrations he felt in the air, and looking for the energy wave pattern that was identical to Mai's. It was much like looking at a three dimensional map in his head.

Bingo. He felt Mai's pattern only a few hundred meters away. Not only that, but she wasn't alone. Naru felt spikes of an intense power that surrounded and followed her- pursuing and hunting her like dogs after a rabbit. If his readings were correct, she didn't have a chance at surviving.

His eyes darted around to see if there were other modes of transportation. They stopped at the black ooze bubbling from the ground. _Supposing I would be able to use my pK here, I may be able to manipulate…_

Suddenly he felt like something slammed into him that made him lose his train of thought completely. The first thing he noticed was that he was now upside down, and from what he could see, his vision was warped around him. He could see the outside, so he knew he hung in the air above 5 feet above the ground. However, his skewed vision could indicate a barrier between him and the outside. _Am I in a giant bubble?_

"I must say, it IS a nice view from here." Said a voice from below.

Naru looked down, and focused on the woman that stood smiling condescendingly at him. Her green eyes shined like a predator just capturing her prey.

Shock claimed him for a moment, but then was immediately replaced by irritation.

"What do you want, Lilith-san."

Green eyes flashed back at him. The woman below him smiled a gentle smile, yet her eyes remained cold and cruel. Just like how Naru had seen the first time they met. She was thoroughly enjoying the view of Naru hanging upside down in a bubble.

"Is that all you can say to someone you are already acquainted with? Hmmm…Naru-kun?" She traced a finger on the bubble. "Especially to someone who can change your _acute_ circumstances. No one has yet to break out of my energy sphere." She sneered.

"Well then, Lilith-san," Naru said sarcastically, "I have things to do, so tell me what your purpose is already, and let me out."

Lilith smiled slightly and folded her hands together. "My, aren't we gutsy! Well this is what I want. Our prime investigator trapped here, like a hamster in its cage. My master will be certainly pleased with this view."

Subdue and contain. How typical.

"…And who might that be?" Naru said casually. Meanwhile, he was upside down in the 'energy sphere', held in suspension by some invisible strings. He looked around the sphere, trying to remember ways of escape. He looked closely at the sphere. _It's made of pure power._ He was able to map Mai in a few minutes; he could also be able to map the sphere. _Then afterwards I can use my PK to break the forces along with the sphere's barrier._ He put his focus his PK on the suspension forces around him. _Here goes…_

The air around him electrified. He felt like he was going to pass out.

"Nu-uh," Lilith wagged a red painted fingernail at him, "don't worry about such trivial things, or you may kill yourself. I designed it to absorb more energy from the victim every time an escape attempt is made." She chuckled to herself. "Say, why don't we get a little friendlier, hm? I had to be so cold and professional around you at the manor; it was really ruining my mood."

Naru inwardly sighed in frustration. Not only did he half to deal with a crazed maid who was speaking to him, but he had to start using his own PK powers, only to feel close to fainting. His PK was exploding around him again, not channeling at all. At this rate, not only would he not be able to get to Mai, but would just pathetically self-destruct in the sphere.

_This is wrong._ Naru thought. _I have to use them…those crystals…Takigawa said they were for channeling…_

"…I know everything about you. For a long time, I have been hearing rumors of a special human who can manipulate the laws of nature. Two humans actually…"

Naru's head shot up with the implication of Gene.

Lilith came around to face him, and he could see her now in full view. She was no longer wearing her maid outfit, but had a black body suit, multiple gold bracelets, and her long tresses of black hair swung severely around her. She crouched in front of him, and peered into the bubble's skin.

"Let's see, yes I'm sure there was another. One of them had a useless body, couldn't even handle a little his own shiki, and the other just had…a well…a dead one. Too bad for either of them. So much potential…but not enough physical stamina." She tapped her chin and licked her lips.

Naru felt the blood rush to his head and tried to lock out his emotions once more. Focus...into the crystals...the necklace around his neck significantly warmed up. Testing his endurance, he released a little bit of PK. Naru exhaled. He was able to handle it. Now only to find a weakness in the sphere's map, and he could shatter it with a huge blast of PK. _Easier said than done… _Naru thought. _If only she wasn't here_. The maid was driving him to distraction.

"If you are done with your observations demon, I'd like to be let out now."

"And how, pray tell, would you know if I'm a demon?"

"You reek of one. The interim mundo has a way of bringing out the true nature of any being."

Lilith's eyes narrowed, as she clicked her teeth.

_Slam._

She hit her hand against the bubble barrier, making waves of energy scatter and spread across the surface. Naru saw the golden threads explode, making him lose sight of the sphere's map. He opened his eyes briefly and glared at Lilith.

She stood up, threw him a mocking look, put her hands on her hips, and thrust them out accordingly.

"You should just forget about that girl, Naru-san. I know about all of it, seeing how I needed to investigate you all before we sent that little invitation to come to Himiwara Manor. That girl is clumsy, emotional, and will only bring you down. She has no power you can use, and even if she did, she wouldn't know how to use it. Whereas I," she paused, opening her palm to produce a huge ball of fire. She threw it at a nearby tree. It and neatly cut in half. "I am one of the most powerful demons to ever walk this plane. If only you were to join me and my master, we'd be invincible." With one huge ball, ate the part of the forest behind her.

She glanced over to see his reaction. His eyes were closed once again, clearly ignoring her.

Naru bent his arm and conducted his PK energy into it. He needed just a few more moments to be able to get a full map again and search for its weak spot.

"I refuse."

Lilith walked back towards the bubble. Wind and ash flew around her, making her black hair whip violently. Her green eyes looked red as the forest fire spread behind her.

"You know, every human desires power. Especially when the people they care about are in dire shape. You understand this right? I mean, all you had to go off of was a _vision_ of your brother getting killed in that accident. But if you just had the power I have, you could have gotten to your brother sooner. He would be alive, instead of being gourmet fish food."

Naru clenched his hand so hard, his fingernails cut into his skin. Blood dripped from his palm, and floated in droplets around him. His emotions, that he locked away and buried deep inside for the past few years came exploding out…

_Shut up._ He blasted huge electrical energy around him. It reverberated into the sphere, electrifying the atmosphere inside. The violent rays spread out from his body, towards sphere's barriers, almost touching it. _Go,_ Naru thought fiercely, _break it…_

But just as suddenly, the lightning waves he emitted stopped and dissipated. Naru felt his vision cloud, and his mind go blank. He had failed. Now, the consequences of being upside down for so long weighed on him, especially combined with the loss of most of his shiki. He was losing consciousness, just as he heard an evil laughter erupted from Lilith.

_Shit, I messed up._

***

_Crack._

She hit her head hard on the tree to pry its hand lose. Too bad she missed most of it and almost blacked out. Mai had her head completely grasped in clawed pale hand. While another clawed hand firmly gripped her neck. For the past few moments, the same creature that had her flying off the cliff was now currently suffocating her.

"L-let go…" She gasped out, trying to get her the clawed hand off of her. It's deformed and misshapen mouth hovered over her. Endless black holes stared at her, against pale bluish skin.

_Your blood is so pure, so enticing…I want it. Give it to me_. Mai heard its faint rasping voice in her head.

_Like hell I would let you have it!_ Mai's thoughts screamed back.

_Let? Permission isn't needed from a lowly human like you. Humans are so useless and weak in this world… they only live to be consumed by their desires. Such a pathetic existence…no purpose at all._

_I have a purpose_! My yelled back, seeing her life flash before her eyes yet again.

"I need to tell…tell them about this…he…coming for me…" She gasped out, using the remaining breath in her lungs.

_I'll tell you a secret. They don't know or don't care you're gone. _

Mai felt her eyes smart, trying her best to disagree with the cruel statement. Memories in her life began to replay in her mind. She tried to remember her thoughts about SPR being like a real family to her, enough to even ease the pain of losing her original one.

_Even if they do come…it's impossible to take you back. Your body and soul will remain here._

The disfigured mouth mutated into a fanged grin. Even in the dark, the being in front of her no longer looked like a woman at all…it seemed to transform into something else entirely. Even the claws on her head were increasing their size. Now little lights in its dark sockets glowed faintly. He seemed to be reading her mind.

_I see…that is no real family you have. Even the most important person to you is only using you for his own gain…_

_That's not true! He always asked me to make tea, I've always helped in the cases giving information that no one else could know…they need me, they appreciate me…love me…_

It made a low predatory growl at her.

_They know your abilities, they use you. Just like a tool. He doesn't love you. No one there loves you. Like I said, all humans are obsessed with their own desires. They all want your power… to help them achieve THEIR goals. You're dying here. Alone. The way your dead parents left you. _

For the first time in a long time, she felt the burning sensation of tears form in her eyes. She didn't want to believe it. _No! They wouldn't do that…and he wouldn't let me die here alone…_

Tightening its hold on her neck, Mai felt her vitality draining her. The creature made licking sounds as saliva continued to drip on to her. It looked like it was closing in for the kill.

…_I'm sorry everyone…Naru … Naru…_

"NARU!" She screamed with her last breath.

***

At the same time he heard a blood curdling scream ring into the air. He tried to focus on its source, but was met with cloudy pools in his head. His strength was completely sapped away. At this moment, even breathing was a chore.

Lilith grinned maniacally. ""Uh-oh. It's showtime. Seems like your precious friend is in peril. Hmm…I wonder what all sorts of things will leak out of her decomposing body…"

Naru's eyes widened for an instant, knowing that the scream belonged to Mai. His heart exploded in pain. He tried to steady his emotions; they were getting in the way of his logical thinking. But Mai's scream still echoed in his head drowning out any other thoughts… this was too similar to the memories he locked in the back of his mind. Being a workaholic and an emotionless boss had helped him lock his emotions attached with them.

Now, feelings of regret, anger, and bitterness surged through him, almost overwhelming him. He was reliving his brother's accident: the shattering glass, his brother's blood spattering on the hood of the car, and how his body thrown mercilessly into that dark lake.

If she died now, it would be the same. Cold, hurt, and alone…she would die without knowing that everyone was trying all they could to get her. Knowing her, she would be apologizing for not trying hard enough, instead of being angry or scared. She would die without being able to see them for the last time. Before she would see _him_ for the last time.

_As if I'd let that happen._

Naru took a large intake of air. Closing his eyes, he once again concentrated on the barrier around him. He put started to see the tendrils in his eyelids that showed the intricate energy lattice of the sphere. He started to pull on the lattice in his mind, seeing patterns and strings flood in his head. His body could barely move, but at least he could use the last of his strength in one final blow.

Lilith stood gleaming in front of him, clearly enjoying Naru's struggling.

"You should stop wasting your time. You'll never be able to break this barrier! As for Miss Taniyama, enjoy listening to her scream- _just like your brother_."

Naru started to glow a blue light. The sphere around him distorted and curved, unraveling like a wooly sweater being pulled by a string. Lilith's green eyes widened in surprise. "What is the meaning of this?!" She screeched vehemently.

He moved his arms swiftly, facing both palms toward the sphere. The blue light got brighter, as waves of energy rippled the shapeless blob around him.

Naru's blue eyes shot open. Open and blazing.

"If anyone will be screaming, it will be _you_."

He took another deep breath, and sent a resounding blast of pK to the barrier's sides. Like a bubble popping, it shattered in a white light, with pieces of its ectoplasm raining to the forest ground.

Lilith's eyes widened in shock, as the boy that was once struggling in her perfect trap, now stood inches away. Dark blue eyes narrowed at her.

"HOW –how did you get out? You are supposed to be weak! What is this massive internal energy…?" She screeched incredulously.

"The barrier is quite strong, but it's only good as a sphere. Change its shape and it's useless." Naru made a gesture with his hand, and Lilith felt her body getting paralyzed and numb as if strings were suspending her in air, just like Naru had been.

"You irritating human! This is MY energy sphere. How dare you try to use it against me! Aren't you supposed to be weaker than this? How is it that you can use your powers to this extent?"

He touched her head with his forefinger. "It's your fault in making a sphere that can be easily replicated."

"Rin pyou tou sha kai jin retsu sai zen." He whispered, before a blue tendril of energy flowed out of his finger, and into her head.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Lilith screamed. She felt the insides of her eyes smolder and burn, like he had created a fire within her. The whites of her eyes turned into a flaming red, and her teeth began to grow large and fang-like.

The blasted pieces of light from the initial sphere now rebuilt themselves around Lilith. The only difference now was that the bubble had blue glow to it, rather than being fully transparent.

Naru clenched his fist. He did it. The crystals around his neck were still warm from the effects. This was nothing like the uncontrollable blasts of pK energy before. Even the opposite- his body was not weakened at all. He felt _better_ than he did first coming in. Naru clenched his fist. _I will have to thoroughly test this out later…_

Lilith sat in the sphere sulking, as it hovered in the air about 3 feet. She started to think of a best plan of escape. Her master would definitely NOT be pleased with the current change of events. As she was doing this, Naru stood outside of the bubble and tapped on it.

"Since you already know, tell me the best way to get to her. A demon would know how to travel the fastest in an interim mundo."

"And if I don't?" she sneered back.

Naru smirked, seeming to recall a memory.

Immediately, the sphere's surface started to emit small blue flames. Lilith's eyes widened. "These purifying flames will be hotter than the one's you're used to. They'll use your shiki as their fuel… until they burn away your existence. It's very unpleasant, even for a demon."

Lilith stared at the blue flames grow larger and dance on the sphere's surface. It didn't destroy the sphere as it penetrated, but instead merged with the sphere's material. The whole thing was turning into a ball of fire.

Naru's finger tapped the sphere once more. Unsurprisingly, the fire had no effect on him.

"Your answer?" He asked politely.

As the blue flames reflected into the same blue of Naru's eyes, Lilith felt a fierce chill that went far beyond any demon she'd ever encountered.

***

A metallic smell. Pools of red liquid mixed in with the soil beneath her. It was too dim to see, but a distinct angry, snarling sound, was heard.

Mai grasped her mangled arm. She had purposely thrown her arm into its bite, and gave the thing a swift kick in the face with her free leg. Not to mention she also threw her backpack on its head.

Although she had stopped it from biting into the main arteries of her neck, but sacrificed her arm in the process. She twisted her way out of its grasp, but only had a few moments to catch her breath and scurry away.

_Blood…want your blood…_

"AS IF I'D LET YOU HAVE IT, YOU UGLY EXCUSE FOR A LIFE!" she yelled, while frantically trying to get a way.

Mai continued to run, retracing her steps out of the vegetative tunnel. She held onto her mangled arm as she ran past vines, twigs, and small trees. The snarling sounds were still behind her though, catching up to her. It didn't matter- she didn't want to die. All she could see were the bright rays of sunlight at the end of the tunnel. _I can do it…I just need to get out of here, and find the others. We can look for Jira together... _

A clawed hand pulled her hair back. She could feel pieces of her brown hair get ripped out of her scalp, as the thing behind her slammed her into the ground.

It made another growl, before it began started to speak vocally. Its voice rasped and gargled, it made her ears painfully sensitive. She almost preferred it talking to her in her head.

"You're…mine…human. Like I said…You'll …Die…alone…"

It grabbed her already swollen neck, and thrust her up against the wall. Baring its fangs, it came inches towards her neck.

Suddenly it yelped, immediately letting go of Mai.

"Hands off." A low voice commanded.

"Who…who is interfering?!!" the thing snarled.

Mai looked to the right, and could see the shadow of a tall figure, muttering a familiar chant. Before Mai could blink, a bright blue light blasted the creature into the air. Its body made a resounding crack as it hit the floor.

Mai was shocked out of her mind. There was another being here that was stronger than the one that was about to eat her alive! The next thing she knew the tall figure was coming towards her. Mai squinted in the dim light, trying to see the figure's face. It had a faint blue-white aura, that Mai had remember seeing before, but the intensity of its killing power was unfamiliar to her. It stood right beside her, and started to take a hold of her mangled arm.

"Please don't! You're not going to kill me too are you?!" Mai cried out. The figure paused and immediately let go of her arm, almost as if offended. Coming closer, a hand came up to brush some hair away from her face. First she flinched, and then she relaxed. Mai's eyes closed, fully enjoying the warm feeling filled her as she felt the touch of fingertips softly caressing her cheeks. She could almost smell the familiar scents of earl grey tea and mahogany wood. In all honesty, she was way too tired to struggle. If this thing wanted to kill her, she probably would have given it permission.

"Who's going to kill you, idiot?" A voice said in an obviously condescending way, "You must have brain damage to not even recognize your own superior."

That voice. That smell. That super annoying ego.

"N-naru???" she called out weakly. Blue eyes stared into her own. Fear and concern saturated them, a very un-naru look to have. _I must be dreaming_.

"Your arm needs some attending to. Can you get up?"

Mai shook her head, and felt exhaustion take over. Her body went limp, and her heavy eyelids finally shut. The last thing she remembered was being hoisted up gently and carried out.

***

"Haa…Haa…"

Jira breathed heavily in and out, as he jogged through the forest. He finally lost that wretched girl. Sinking down into the ground, he laid his head next to a tree. He looked around and immediately knew where he was. That man had advised them never to come into this place, something about soul eaters wandering here. But he just couldn't stand the girl who following him.

_I need to get away from her evil effects…thank goodness…I was able to make it this far._

After catching his breath, a bright blue light caught his eye. He looked over to the see the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen in his life, suspended in a blue sphere of fire. The woman had silky black hair and sparkling green eyes. Those same eyes locked with his own.

She gestured him to come closer.

He hesitated. _Perhaps she is a witch?_ He thought to himself.

The beautiful woman continued to look at him, her eyes became pleading.

_No witch could be that gorgeous_.

Jira came up to the sphere, careful to avoid the flames dancing around it.

The woman smiled at him, gratitude enveloping her face. Her voice sounded ever so sweet.

"Can you help me?"


	5. Plan of Attack

Disclaimer: I don't own GH. Thanks to everyone who's still giving this story a chance 

She woke up in a cold sweat.

Darkness shadowed the surroundings, obstructing her vision. Was the creature still after her? How had she survived? How the heck did Naru get here?

All she could see were hundreds of white spots of light above her. Mai picked herself up, and gave them her full attention. She had seen something like this before on TV, where white glowing lights would ascend from above. They were either one, spirits out to get her, or two, spirits that wanted something from her.

From what it seemed like, the lights just hovered above her, not moving at all.

Mai extended her forefinger to the nearest light to her, glowing like a frail firefly in the dim night. It was all too alluring not to touch. _I'm probably going to regret this_, Mai thought to herself.

Her finger came in to contact to its bright edge, the darkness around her got sucked away. Mai drew out a startled breath, as a strong wind started to surge around her. Quickly whipping her head around, she stared at her surroundings. As far as she knew she was outside, with the graying sky above, and dark green grass below. She was standing in the middle of grass lands that stretched to the horizon.

Movement caught her eye in her peripheral vision. A young girl was playing a few feet ahead of her, with what seemed like the same white lights she had encountered before. The lights flew around her, as she swapped them away playfully. She looked perfectly content with her situation, and didn't seem to notice Mai at all.

Although Mai thought the girl was somewhat peculiar. She had a certain movement, a particular step in her merriment that made it seem like the white lights seemed to flow around her, as if she and the lights were being conjured up and moved by her own wishes. Nevertheless, Mai still felt drawn to the girl for a reason she couldn't fathom.

A shadow came up beside her, and Mai nearly jumped. A man stood next to her, with a stature that Mai could only think of as 'regal'. No matter how the man looked like, she felt an ominous vibe reverberate from him.

The girl now had stopped moving vibrantly, and came to a sudden halt. The lights around her vanished instantly and she turned her face around to stare at the man. The man made a move forward, and her features immediately turned pale with fear. As she stood shaking, the man made a grab for her.

"STOP!!!" Mai screamed, but neither seemed to acknowledge her. Mai felt her heart drop, as she stood there helplessly looking at them. _That's right - I can't participate in visions…_

The man took out a small handkerchief and covered the girl's mouth. Mai understood the situation and knew now that she could do nothing about it. Even so, her heart went out to the small girl. As she closed her eyes, the man whispered something in her ear. Although Mai was a few feet away, she the man's words come to her clearly.

"He won't come back for you this time."

"NOOOO!!!" Mai shrieked, as emotions of fear, confusion, and betrayal overwhelmed her.

The man stopped.

Mai felt herself shaking as the man slowly turned his head toward her, while keeping the girl still in his arms.

_Shall I take you instead?_

"Miss Mai! Please wake up." a gentle voice called out to her. She felt someone holding her shoulders, although her body inwardly winced from the abrupt awakening. She sat up, and started to gag. A saw a swarm of red hair, and huge concerned eyes swam in her vision. Mika…

"Are you alright?!!" Another voice called out. Mai looked to her side, and saw that the man she just recently met stood next to her with the same worried look.

Mai tried to speak but felt the rawness of her throat._ I must have been screaming again..._

She made a move showing she needed some water, as she locked and targeted her backpack, remembering she always brought water to night class.

As Sebastian and Mika scrambled to get her something to drink, she had a few seconds to settle her thoughts, and look at the "reality" around her.

First, it was night again, which was weird, since according to her watch it should have been evening. Second, a campfire was burning in front of her which meant that she'd been knocked out for some time. Third, if she had been having a vision, how was it possible that she could interact/communicate with the people there?

My head hurts. WTF. Mai thought dejectedly. And indeed her head was killing her. She had the pounding kind, and it didn't help that her heart was pumping like no tomorrow.

Mika handed her a water bottle, which Mai accepted gratefully. Sebastian threw some wood in the fire.

"wha-, what--hapnin? Where *cough* Na-ru?" Mai screeched out, as she took another swig of her water.

Sebastian gave a sideways glanced at Mika, possibly urging her to tell her instead of him.

Mika took a hold of her hand.

"You've been sleeping for two hours. Your friend Kazuya, or Naru, came out of nowhere with you. At that time you had passed out from blood loss. Your arm-" Mai suddenly felt a sensation on her wounded arm along the lines of burning acid "-your arm was in bad shape. He already explained to us that you got attacked by a bear, and was severely hurt. But, he came well prepared with a pack of supplies and gave you first aid. He just left a few minutes ago to look for possible landmarks to show where we are now. He should be back any minute…"

Mika stopped, letting Mai absorb the information. She felt somewhere between relief and anxiety since Naru came to be here. Mai knew that if Naru had come prepared, he knew what he was getting into. He may have some answers and a plan to leave this place. But, on the other hand, he came alone, which meant there may have been complications with the others.

Mai looked at the concerned faces shining in the light of the campfire. "Thank you *cough* telling me. And for taking care of me this whole time, especially since we just met… But what about you? Did you see that creature? *cough* Was it dead? Were you guys *cough* hurt? I want to hear more on how you got here and…"

Sebastian smiled and patted her back. "Just get some sleep Miss Mai…you still need to recover. We'll let you know when it's time to go." It was in the tone that meant to hold on to the questions for later.

Mai knew how to take a hint. That and her body was screaming for rest at the moment. Her arm was throbbed more and more as she stayed in the upward position. She closed her eyes, and realized she was lying on some jackets next to a trunk of a tree. After feeling her breathing slow once more, Mai also felt a disturbing pang in her chest as she recounted her memories before losing consciousness.

Naru had saved her using his PK abilities, but seemed to be in one piece. She also couldn't get how she felt when she first saw Naru in that dark place. His eyes- were glowing silver- blue, like a quiet steady fire- yet cold, and could explode in ferocity at any moment. They were the kind of eyes that wolves have before they pounced on their prey- a killer's eyes.

Her train of thought stopped as she heard a rustle of leaves behind her. Bolting from her sleep, she heard Mika yell a "who's there?!"

Mai turned around to face the being – and saw dark blue orbs shining in the campfire. It took Mai all she had to not scream in surprise.

"You look rested." He said calmly giving her a brief glance. Immediately he turned his attention away to the two others.

"NARU!!!!!!" Mai cried as she tried to stand up and greet him. He gently pushed her down back to her laying position. Shaking his head at her, he passed over her to sit beside her.

Mai smiled slightly, not getting the hug or at least the "hello" she wanted, but she was very happy to feel the warmth of Naru's torso very close to her own. _Location, location, location. _She thought, smiling to herself. _Oh if Masako could see me now…_

"Did you find anything? Any signs of Jira?" Sebastian asked.

Mai mentally kicked herself with guilt. She had forgotten all about Jira.

Mika's eyes widened, as she played with her hair absentmindedly.

"Jira, if still alive, is most likely in this area. I saw some footsteps that have him north of this area. " Naru narrowed his eyes. "He seems to have gone back to where I came from and did a U-turn North. I have a feeling he is going to the same place we are."

"And exactly where are we?"

Naru hesitated for a moment before speaking. "As far as location goes, according to my observations of the area, we are indeed a part of Himiwara Hill…but we are not in the same Himiwara as you know. Our time is limited here, since this place is more of in an avalanching state of things."

"Meaning…?" Mika asked confused. "I've been in Japan a few times now, and I have never heard of this place described as that."

Naru glanced at Mai who was already sitting up, and leaning at the tree. She stared at him waiting for his response.

"We have a limited time here. This place is created using massive amounts of energy as a resource. My team and I have some experience with these kinds of places- they are usually created by a certain points in the world that have tumultuous physical and spiritual forces."

Sebastian gave him a withering look. "You're saying we're in an alternate dimension, like a Sci-fi movie?"

Mika put her head in her hand, and stared with glazed eyes at the campfire. "mundo…rim…"

Both Sebastian and Naru turned their head sharply at her. "What did you say?"

"You know…the world between the worlds. I learned it from one of my teachers …I had stayed after one day to talk to him, and told me about different ways a tear in dimensions could exist, and how it's proven in history. The world of hell or paradise on earth can all be proven with these 'mundos'. He even showed me how different crystals and gem have the ability to absorb energy. They can be manipulated and create these 'mundos' when gathered in a concentrated area."

Mika then pulled at a chain around her neck to reveal 3 chipped pieces of crystal- black, yellow, and red. "He even gave me this from his own samples. He had told me they were broken pieces from his collection anyway, and that I could have it since I was interested in these kinds of things." She added sheepishly.

Naru's eyes widened. He suddenly remembered something while he laid nearly unconscious not too long ago.

"_I see you're an avid collector. Or are you a part time geologist?" Ayako inquired, while fingering the glass box that protected them. These cranes were the most beautiful out of all the crystals in the box, one red, the other yellow, and the last was a dark violet, almost black._

"_OH! Please don't touch those. They are very valuable, and are a part of my private collection." He quickly covered the wooden and glass box containing the crystals completely._

"What was his name again? I'm still trying to remember…Sebastian you know him…he was with you and Jira after class, the night we were in the forest…" She said, looking at Sebastian.

Sebastian gulped, clenching his fist. "Yeah I know him."

But Naru did. Fingering his own stone necklace that was given to him, he asked quietly, "Do you remember if he was a physics professor?"

Mika snapped her fingers and smiled. "That's right! And that's how he knew to draw these dimensional diagrams and quantum mechanics. I never really got the hang of it."

Mai rolled her eyes. "Yeah me too. I never could stay awake in my night class. Especially since my professor was so damn geeky…"

"Mine too…he always wore this bow tie to class…it was really funny." Mika said, giggling softly.

"Me too…" Mai muttered. Her eyes widened.

"MR. SUN WANG?????!!!!" She hollered.

"Yes, that's his name!" Mika said, delighted and confused at Mai's revelation.

Mai turned to look at Naru, only to be fixated by a pure 'could- you- be- any- slower?' look. She fumed and sat up straighter on the tree, not looking at him.

"Anyway, about the plan to get back to our own Himiwara…" Mika said, realizing the change of atmosphere between Mai and Naru.

"We will camp here for tonight. We'll be taking turns on who stays awake to watch the campgrounds for any _bears_ or any other wild animals. I will be first watch. We will switch every 4 hours. Tomorrow, we will look for Jira on our way to Narajara Cave."

Mika nodded in agreement, seeming to blindly trust him without question. On the other hand, Mai grabbed Naru's arm that made his head go a bit closer to hers than she had planned.

"Why Narajara cave?" Mai asked, blushing furiously. Naru held her gaze for a moment. the mysterious blue eyes that she had grown to love were only inches away from her own. Mai gulped slightly, praying to the gods above that Naru would not notice her increasing embarrassment at their close proximity.

In the next second, that moment disappeared. Naru pulled himself away and looked at her with an almost smug smile.

"Because, it's our way out."

"How do you kn-" Mai started while inhaling his warm English tea scent. Before she could truly enjoy it, his head turned away from her, and a map suddenly appeared walling him off from her.

His head was devoured in it.

With that Mai knew the conversation had ended.

Shaking her head, she scooted closer to Mika. As they readied for sleep, the girls sat giggling and recounting their horror days in physics class. Naru had his arms folded looking like he didn't have a care in the world.

Except for giving a few sideways glances at Sebastian. Although the girls hadn't noticed yet, Naru did take note of Sebastian's abrupt silence after the mentioning of Wang. Naru could only speculate of what had happened between Sebastian and Mr. Wang. For now, his blond hair covered his eyes as he sat staring at the dancing whips of the campfire.

"It's going to be okay, Ayako…"

Ayako had been standing against Takigawa with her face buried in his shoulder. She was crying, but she was trying to hold it in by squeezing her eyes shut and holding her breath.

"That's two, Takigawa…Two of them that are gone. We've been on this roller coaster ride of… unfortunate things happening to us… I'm just so frustrated…at this situation…my own…uselessness…and…" She raved, gasping in between breaths.

For all she knew, Mai was already dead in the forest, and Naru went in to follow her. She was left with no ideas how to overcome a dangerous dimensional rift, especially when there was little known about it. In addition, she couldn't use her powers to help. They were on their own. She had to stand by and just wait it out.

"Are you so weak minded that you've lost yourself, as well as your friends?" the old man creaked, while he looked up into the air. The lightning and thunder had stopped some time ago.

He started to walk towards the perch that he was originally sitting on. He waited and watched the shadow of a bird that was still circling the sky. In a few moments, Lei-Kun, the thunder god, was flying down steadily, as he finished closing the gateway.

"…There are many capable people around you…believe in them, as well as yourself. If you don't have this basic principle from the start, you will surely be the first to die."

Ayako lifted her head up from Takigawa's shoulder just in time to see Lei-kun descend above her. He dropped down gracefully, safely landing on the perch. Lei-kun gave her a brief, yet encouraging look, as he rested into a sitting position. The electrifying energy that he seemed to stem from him earlier was reduced to a slight humming. He was spent.

Kami climbed back on the perch and gave him, what seemed like herbs, from a bag. The thunder god took the bag with his beak, and gulped down its contents. After a few moments, he closed his eyes.

"…Rest and regain your strength, you will need it for what's ahead. You will think more clearly afterward." Kami said to those around him.

Ayako calmed down, and took slow breaths. She needed to overcome the stress that was eating at her for the last three hours, and get back her ability to keep going. There was never a case they encountered before where both Mai and Naru were gone from the beginning.

"It will be alright Ayako, we will just adapt to the situation like we always do, with or without Mai and Naru." Takigawa said with a smile. Although the smile was forced and somewhat shaky, she appreciated his words.

She let it all sink in, as she wiped her face with her sleeve. How had she fallen from a once well renowned doctor, rich and proud, to sniveling child? She set her eyes in determination and let go of Takigawa's arm. The old man was right, she needed to stop her crying and figure out a solution.

"Let's go back to the mansion," Ayako said determinedly. Her eyes were narrowed and vibrant. _There's no way I'm going to let some crack in the world take the people I love away. Not without a fight. _

"There's the Ayako I know!" Takigawa cheered, punching a fist in the air. "Old man and bird-god, you coming with us too?"

A streak of lightning flashed by Takigawa's head, and sizzled it slightly. Takigawa's eyes widened as he smelled the stench of burnt hair.

"That's Kami and Lei-kun to you, insolent monk. And yes, we are coming with you. After all, it is your employer that asked us to help until the interim mundo completely vanishes."

He and Ayako had already started to ascend the bike trail. Kami jumped from the perch to the upper part of the trail, as Lei-kun glided above them.

"…speaking of knowing our employer, how do you know him? When did he tell you to come here?...Wait, how did you know I was a monk? " Takigawa inquired shooting each question at rapid speed.

The old man chucked to himself. _I've landed myself with the curious type._

"Your employer…Naru…Kazuya Shibuya…Oliver Davis. Yes, I've known him for a long time. Too long, for someone like him. I would call myself something like a godfather or a great uncle…." He scratched his chin.

Takigawa jumped over a rock. "I wouldn't guess it. You look like more of a grandfather." He said slyly.

"Shut up, Takigawa." Ayako cut in. "Please continue, Kami-san. I would very much like to hear your story. You said you are a wise man?"

"Yes, of sorts. I have known Naru for quite a long time now, ever since he and his brother were very young. Before Madoka had taught him how to ghost hunt, I was there to teach him how to fit into the world, even with his powers. You can imagine that a child with inhuman abilities could be called "abnormal" and be ostracized from society…" Kami paused and his eyes darkened. "… Or even from his _own_ parents." The old man added bitterly.

Ayako coughed. _Did he know Naru's biological parents?_

Kami turned abruptly away from her, and took out his walking stick from his robes. He picked up the hem to keep from tripping over. A small obstruction could cause certain death on the narrow bike path.

He stopped for a moment and looked at the two behind him. "You do know somewhat of his past, no? Why he initially was in Japan?"

"Yes, to find his brother's body. We already know all that."

"Good, well then, luckily, Martin and Luella Davis accepted them completely. Back then," he continued, "Naru and his brother always traveled in pairs. They depended on each other as common twins do…and in ways common twins do not. Naru would be able to unleash his PK abilities more freely, since his brother would be able to help control it. They were the perfect balance to each other…like light and dark, yin and yang. With psychic powers, wits, and intelligence, they made a very powerful and lively pair." Kami smiled, as if remembering happy times of the past. Ayako couldn't help but smile with him.

She had caught Naru faintly smiling at Mai while making tea once or twice. It was a truly refreshing look to him. _But for as intelligent as he is, he is SO emotionally retarded for not realizing his own feelings…_

"Oy, you sound like a doting parent."

A stick came flying down on Takigawa's head.

"I never asked for your comments, monk! And stop intruding on my happy thoughts!" Kami sneered, while retracting his stick.

"After he lost his brother," Kami continued, "it was like he lost half of himself. He became cold and introverted, and even more narcissistic to separate him from others. Nowadays, he is truly living up to his nickname."

"If you've known Naru since his childhood, how come we haven't heard of you at all?" Ayako asked. She just couldn't believe someone this close to Naru was never mentioned in all the years they've been together.

"Well, he's not one to spill secrets to just anyone." Kami said casually, as he treaded up hill.

For some reason, Ayako and Takigawa figured this guy was some crazy hermit that just happened to have high spiritual powers. After all, a person could be born with spiritual powers without needing to conjure them up. _Perhaps Lei-kun was the one who actually channeled the energy, and this guy was just hanging out with him for the ride._

"No, I'm not crazy, and I'm not a hermit either. Do humans always have to base people on appearances?"

Ayako and Takigawa stopped their treading and stared at Kami- mouths open. _HE CAN READ MINDS?_

"Not especially strong ones, but I can when they are open books like yours."

"GAH!!!!" Ayako and Takigawa yelled together. Lei-kun swooped down slightly from the sky in response.

"Stop it! I'm feeling self-conscious! That is a major violation of privacy, ya know!" Takigawa roared, as he clutched his head.

"Kami, does that mean you know everything about us already?" Ayako demanded, while running in front of him.

He started to laugh wholeheartedly. "Hahahaha! You humans are so predictable. It's been the same response for centuries now!"

"It's not funny, old man!" Takigawa said and stopped. "WAAAAIT, EXACTLY HOW OLD ARE YOU, you couldn't be hundreds of years old?"

"And what do you mean _you_ humans?! You're human too!" Ayako said simultaneously.

There was a slight pause before he responded.

"I wonder about that…" Kami said softly, as he walked further ahead of them.

Ayako and Takigawa looked at each other, and decided not to press the matter further.

Kami sighed tiredly, as he looked up into the distance ahead. He could see the manor's lights a few meters up, as well as the car that Ayako and Takigawa had taken, sitting on the main road. The bike trail was very close here…it is most likely Mai would have past the manor going down this hill…

"Let's stop the interrogations already…I'm tired. Gravity is a persistent opponent." He said, walking up the last few meters of the steep trail, "Besides, don't you want to know more about this situation?"

"Well, what you know is what we know, right?" Takigawa said.

"Yes…and more. Not necessarily as a mind reader, but Miss Mai has been an interesting case for quite some time now." He still faced away from them, hiding his expression in the darkness and shadows of the trees. Ayako felt a change in his demeanor, as if what he was about to say was very painful for him. She started to feel a tingle of anxiety again, stabbing her heart.

_It is something very bad, isn't it…? _Ayako thought. Her eyes were full of concern as she looked at him.

"It could be good or bad." Kami said quietly.

"Well, spill it old man!" Takigawa demanded, with a tone of concern in his voice.

"Mai Taniyama…," he said with his back still turned to them.

"…is a very unique human."

Takigawa breathed a sigh of relief, but Ayako still remained frozen. She felt that tingle of anxiety become stronger with every passing second.

Takigawa spoke first.

"So what, we all knew that Mai has precognitive dreams and has moments of clairvoyance. But Naru said this was all latent…this is not news." He stressed the fact that this was not something new- as if he was trying to convince himself.

Kami stopped slowly in his tracks. They were now on the small dirt path that connected the main road to the bike trail. A large boulder and a few rocks sat a little off to the right. They could see the car now in plain view on the road above them- they were only a few meters away.

"Let's take a short rest here. I am an old man, after all." Kami sat on the larger rock, and gestured to Ayako and Takigawa to sit next to him on the smaller rocks.

"We're almost at the car though…"Ayako started a little pale.

"We cannot do anything anyway until the others are here, correct? I insist that you sit."

Lei-kun swooped down from the sky above them, seeing Kami rest on a boulder. Kami nodded at bird-god above them, and the bird came to perch nearby on a larger rock. Kami's eyes showed silver again, as he stared at the moon above them.

Takigawa fidgeted slightly on the rough edges of the rock. The old man was irritating him. There were so many things that had already happened. All he wanted to do was regroup at the manor, get everyone together, and rush to get to Mai and Naru. He tried his hardest to act calm and rational to the man, especially since he was usually leader if Naru were ever to disappear. Like now.

"I know you want to hurry back to Lin as quickly as possible. But I would like to say a few things in the privacy of this forest first. Once we get into that manor, who knows what kind of things would be listening."

_Things?_

Kami leaned back on a boulder behind him, his silver eyes glistening in the moonlight. Ayako and Takigawa looked back at him expectantly.

"There was a young girl I saw at a funeral a few years ago. She was only in middle school, but had no parents, nor much else. She was paying respects her father and mother. Her mother had just died in an accident. Any other person I would have passed by without much interest…but that girl was very oblivious…" he paused at the memory. "…very oblivious to the drove of spirits surrounding her. There were spirits that came and stood next to her, and even more that clung to her legs, arms, and face. They wanted to reach out to her; they wanted to _have_ her, as if she was there to heal them of the pain of after death."

"She didn't feel them." Ayako said, knowing what was coming next.

"Not only that, but she didn't truly believe. She was unable to see them, and was unable to see her own abilities. There are many people like that- those who can't even see the spirits that cling to them, ones that follow them for their whole lives, watching and waiting to be noticed. Denial can go a long way."

"That is, until we came in." Ayako finished for him.

Kami twirled his walking stick into the sand. "She's a special case. Her attractive force gets stronger as she gets older. She has a way of drawing ghosts and people in."

"Well, she was able to find critical clues to most cases. She even was able to communicate to spirits far more easily than the rest of us…" Takigawa speculated, with his finger on his lip.

The walking stick stopped twirling, and Kami drew a circle on the dirt floor, with a squiggly line in the middle. He finished up with two circles on each side.

"Yin and Yang." he said while drawing on the dirt. "Are two very magnetic forces in nature. They are usually metaphors to explain the dual energies, and how opposite energies exist to balance each other out. There are those who believe this is merely an explanation of the dynamics of life. But," he looked up at from his drawing to lock eyes with Ayako and Takigawa, "there are those who believe that yin and yang are powers that can be controlled and manipulated. Those who believe that the person who can do this can become supreme god himself."

Takigawa narrowed his eyes. "That is a great Taboo you're talking about, old man. To control the full force of nature, one would need to not only be spiritually powerful, but also mentally capable too. There's only been a few attempts in the past. People will usually blotch it and wind up killing themselves, everyone around them, and totally screw up the balance between the spiritual and the physical world…" Takigawa stopped.

Ayako covered a hand in her mouth. Kami's silver eyes glinted even more in the moonlight.

"So you're saying that there's a mastermind behind this interim mundo who is bent on taking controlling the threads of nature?" Ayako accused.

"I'm speculatin'." Takigawa shot back, rubbing his chin. "I mean, from what's been happening so far," he waved his hands in the air, "it's not impossible."

"So…what does this have to do with Mai again? Other than that she's right in the thick of it?" Ayako asked, feeling another headache come on.

Kami put a hand up. "Miss Taniyama has a very pure soul. It has been said that pure souls in this world have been harvested by humans and demons because they can release massive amounts of energy…like how virgins are used in those stupid movies to carry out spells and sorcery. That is partially correct…but more likely than not, a person who has a pure energy aura is _far_ more effective. Such energy can be devoured by the demon, spiking up that demon's power ten-fold. On top of that, her type of chi, or spiritual energy, has enough attractive force to send any hungry demon/ghost within the radius to hunt her."

"In conclusion, she's a walking Big Mac to any the big bad monsters in the interim mundo."

Takigawa said, throwing up his hands.

"Either that, or she can be used for other means."

"Meaning…" Ayako trailed off, knowing full well what some of those 'means' were.

"Miss Taniyama has been needed to be exorcised a few times now, has she not?"

"Of course."

Kami looked up to the moonlight.

"When a body is in the control of a demon, it becomes either food, hostage, or a killer."

Silence spread through the group, separating them from the cricket chirps, and breezy whispers that flow through grass. Naru had known, he had to have known, what Mai was capable of becoming after being thrown into a plane with an assortment of creatures. Mai would not be the only one in danger either- the three were going to head to Himiwara's manor and find out if the residents were involved. For all they knew, they could be walking into a well conjured trap.

"So what do we do now?" Takigawa asked cheerfully. "We can't stay out here all night long, and we need to touch base with Lin and grab our equipment. Also, we got to introduce a suspicious old man to the jerk of all rich jerks."

Silence.

"That's it!" Ayako yelled, jumping into the air. Takigawa had fallen off his rock, and the old man felt his face twitch slightly. Her eyes swam side to side as she focused on her thoughts. _Left, left, library, right, stairway, left wing bedrooms, center first aid room… _

"Old man-san!" She said, nearly spitting her face with a fully fledged grin.

"Eh?" he glared at her.

"We're going to schedule your heart attack."

*********************************************************

"So what are we going to do?" Jira asked, eyes dazzling at the woman in front of him.

She was walking a few feet ahead of him, having him further away made her less tempted to kill him. Ever since he freed her from that brat's power sphere, all she could think of was two things: torture and kill the brat that put her in one. She already had an inkling about him and his group of pathetic brats. She would have killed the lovesick boy behind her too, if not for his connection to them.

"We're going to a few kilometers, sweet heart. In order to get back to the Himiwara we both know and love, we need to get to the caves." She said, sickeningly sweet.

"O…kay…" Jira responded dreamily. Her voice almost hypnotized him, and she was so…so…beautiful. He officially saved the damsel in distress this time…_I did a lot more than stupid Sebastian ever did. _

Jira licked his lips and sneered at the thought.

Lilith, on the other hand, came to a small stop in their trekking. Jira halted as well, and he realized where they were: the black river. The river oozed out of rock and came to life on its own…coming towards Lilith in an eerily obedient manner.

A wave of black ooze came towards Lilith and surrounded her. She smiled as she closed her eyes. Jira, shaking in fright of the ooze, stood behind her.

"Find them." She whispered.

The ooze calmed itself at her feet, and gradually absorbed into the ground.

_I'll be coming for you, my dear, dear, boy…_

********************************************************

"3 hours and 34 minutes." Naru said, checking his watch. "Lin should have the hitigata ready by now."

The hitigata was simple, yet a complicated technique to use. There were many ways to abuse it, for example, they could be created as voodoo dolls. Lin, however, had enough smarts to make it into a mode of spiritual communication rather than physical. He had done this by capturing Naru's 'essence' in the hitigata. In this way, he would be able to communicate through someone's 'essence' while the spirit was the most vulnerable – during dreaming.

By the time Naru would be done with his 'watch', he was almost sure Lin would be waiting for him in his dreams. It was then he could have an exchange of information, and gain more insight to the place. But for now, that had to wait. Not that Naru had any problems being awake. After all, he did have a lot to think about. Mai was going to badger him with questions during their walk, and he needed to be more than prepared. Knowing Mai, she would probably want to know every detail of his exploits and abilities – details that he had yet to figure out himself.

There were certain things that baffled him still. Being a scientist and having a natural tendency to find and prove the Truth, it was difficult to conduct theories and tests on a subject, when he _is_ the subject. He had a few theories though. His abilities have grown because he was an interim mundo, that he was sure. The plethora of energy seeping in the plane was enough to exacerbate any paranormal/spiritual abilities that one may already have. However, the greater the power, the harder it is to control.

Naru walked a few feet away from the campfire, yet still close enough to be able to keep watch. He had wanted some time to think, as well as space.

Since Naru commended himself on control, this would normally not be a problem. Stresses in his environment such as, "can be eaten at any time", "no equipment", and "safety team lacking", were a few of them. _Goal one: do not use of the blue flame unless absolutely necessary._

He leaned back against an outcropped tree and closed his eyes to focus on the mapping once more. He imagined a visual network in his mind as he used his chi to feel the vibrations of the forest. Were there any creatures close? Any signs of instability in the area? Anything that could give him more of an edge in handling future problems. After all, those who are most prepared are the ones that win the battle.

Naru inwardly sighed. He could almost hear Lin saying those words at that moment.

"Kazuya…ah, Naru?…" a voice called out to him.

Naru turned to the source of the sound, only to find an exhausted looking European a few feet to the side.

"Sebastian."

"I wanted to talk to you while the girls were sleeping." He whispered.

"Talk."

Sebastian leaned on a tree trunk, and stood facing the campfire.

"I know that Miss Mai did not get attacked by a bear."

"..."

"She was attacked by those monsters that steal your spirit, the ones that end up eating you alive." He said with a voice barely audible. "They're soul eaters."

Naru's eyes slightly widened, remembering a description of them somewhere in the recesses of his research.

"What proof do you have?"

"The black river. The soul eaters thrive on it when there are no other sources around. It's like their lifeline. The larger the river, the more there are…Mr. Wang mentioned them…before all this happened."

Naru waited for additional explanation, but didn't get one. Sebastian merely kept staring past him, as if he was gulping down his words.

After a few moments, Naru continued on point. After all, having monsters lurking nearby was probably more important than whatever issues he had with Wang.

Naru rotated his hand around him. "If there are so many, where are they?"

"I have a feeling that river runs beneath us, you know underground…that's why it oozes out here and there." Sebastian gulped and turned slightly pale. "…they could be underneath us right now."

Naru shook his head. "That's impossible. I would have felt some of their aura if they were that close."

Sebastian, in turn, kicked the soil under his feet. Some the dirt crumbled into brown flakes and stuck to his shoe. He continued to dig with his shoe until his heel was covered in what seemed like black mud.

"…are you trying to say something?" Naru asked skeptically.

Taking a hold of his shoe, he put his index finger and rubbed some of the mud off. He held his finger in front of Naru expectantly. Naru, in turn, casually looked at the material. It was glowing a very, very, very faint green light. Naru felt a small tug of energy from it.

"This is covered in the second layer. You know that anything that can make this kind of glow…"

"…acts like an insulator." He mumbled, finishing his sentence. He had remembered Lin teaching him something about 'shielding' energy. It acted as a kind of buffer to hide someone's ki (or life force) in certain situations. Naru could not imagine why there was such a thing in the ground, rather than a human being. But who could question the laws of an interim mundo?

"Since you're very smart, you'll understand what this means. We could be sitting on 50 of those things right now."

Naru had already gotten to his knees and started to examine the small hole Sebastian had dug in.

"So the next question is: what's keeping them in, and how to make it stay that way?"

Naru felt his hands moist up. He turned over his palm and realized the dirt he was examining had been more wet than he thought. Rubbing the dirt off his hand, he pushed his legs up, only to realize that his shoes had liquid black ooze sticking him to the ground. The hole Sebastian had dug had now turned into a quickly spreading black puddle.

"What the…?!!!"

Sebastian said, staring at his inability to stand up. In a heartbeat, he grabbed on to Naru's shoulder to help hoist him up, only to realize he was stuck as well.

"GET MY BACKPACK!!!" Naru yelled, pointing at his pack near Sebastian. It was dangerously near the edge of the puddle. Sebastian picked up and held the pack up above him.

Naru felt sick. He was more overwhelmed with disgusting and invasive goo that surrounded him. Not to mention in the next second, he felt as if he was not only stuck, but now sinking. But he had to think. Mai and Mika could certainly get them out of this, but they would need to get the strong rope out of his back pack.

Of course Naru had brought a rope.

He heard a female voice call groggily behind him. "Naru, what's going on?"

Naru felt a bit of both relief and anxiety at that moment. Sebastian could get the rope out of his bag, and have Mai fish them out of this quick-sand like situation. But, she had to be calm. Knowing her, she would rush into things without thinking, and probably get stuck in with them herself.

"Mai, I need you to-" he started.

"We're stuck! HELP US!" Sebastian cried before Naru could finish.

"WHAT???!!!" Mai yelled, as she went full throttle running to them. In a blink, she too was now covered in black ooze, sinking a few inches away from Naru.

Naru sighed inwardly. He was now waist deep into the ooze and physically felt the collapse of his plan.

Looking over to Mai, she saw her face pale in the not so-far-away light of the campfire. With just one look, and he knew from her expression that she was a little more than freaked out. She stayed still, not daring to move. She kept her hands clenched, and her face straight. Yes, Mai was quite tough in these moments. But in something like this, she did whatever most people do- freeze up.

Naru outstretched a hand to hers, and took a hold of it gently. Mai turned her face towards him, with eyes wide with shock and fear.

Over the years, Naru learned to be less cold and unsympathetic in these situations. Part of that was due to Mai, who never responded well to such behavior. For better efficiency and to maximize their chances of survival, he adapted to her.

That's what he theorized anyway.

"Let's wake up Mika." Naru commanded monotonously. But his eyes were softer than his tone of voice.

"Hollering?"

"Of course. Now use that annoyingly penetrating voice of yours to call her."

"WHAT??!! HOW DARE YOU!!!"

"That's the one."

Author's Note: So YEAH, wow, it took me so long to do this chapter. I've been quite distracted with other things lately. (Hiking, surfing, swimming. It was summer yannoe?) Anyway, enjoy!


	6. Black Ooze and Bandages

Hi guys,

Sorry I haven't been writing. I've been studying for my mcat, and my time and creative energy have taken a hit.

This chapter is a bit short…but I wanted to write something about Naru and Mai. The story will again proceed in the next chapter.

Thanks for your patience and staying with this story so long.

-atlantis71186

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

*Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt but the OC in here are my own.

Mai rolled her eyes to the skies above.

She almost head deep in dark sludge, oozing slime running around her legs, through her fingers, soaking her clothes. If she closed her eyes, she imagined herself in a puddle of thick, viscous mucus. Wonderful.

What was even more uncomfortable was being almost head to head with one idiot scientist. Bringing back to the what happened less than 20 minutes ago : Mai came careening into the oozing sludge, with a momentum that could rival the force of a sledgehammer, which combined with the impact, brought her dangerously close to said idiot.

Unfortunately for Naru and Mai, this close proximity was less than romantic. After calling for Mika for 2-3 minutes straight, it was concluded that she either was asleep or something happened to her -which meant they needed a different way to get out of this literal mess. Another thing was that the ooze had a unidirectional movement, almost like quicksand.

Naru was currently ignoring her and mumbling what sounded a lot like physics and a little bit of chemistry. Sebastian, now fishing for some useful items in Naru's bag, seemed to be gulping back the panic and worry he had for their pitiful situation.

"Did you find my rope?" Naru asked aloud, probably the question was aimed toward Sebastian.

"Yes, but not enough to pull any one of us out of here." Sebastian replied, pulling a pathetic piece of twine between his hands.

Fortunately they had stop sinking so that Mai could still have enough leverage to respirate. All that was exposed in Mai's body was her ears and her face, while as Naru and Sebastian were taller and had movement of their arms. She let out a frustrated sigh. It felt a bit claustrophobic for her being a quicksand type of situation, and in comparison to the vertically favored, she felt utterly useless.

Or perhaps not. She looked rolled her eyes back and forth – looking around as much as possible. Trees, rocks, dirt. It occurred to her that Naru could make her eat dust when it came to strategy and preparation. Heck, the guy was a genius, and could strategize and win against the most of the world when it came down to it…but she had something that even Naru couldn't explain: phenomenal intuition.

Intuition now told her to look around. There was something she was forgetting, something she had recently learned while tredging around this crazy place.

Trees, rocks and dirt…Mai thought…

…then she saw it.

"Errr…Naru…"

"…I'm not holding your hand anymore." Naru said nonchalantly, eyes closed, and between mumbles.

Mai blushed painfully red at the thought. For a few moments Naru had held her hand to prevent her from completely panicking and perhaps quickening her own doom. However, after realizing that she had stop sinking he had broken contact and went into smartass mode.

"Unbelievably arrogant until the end…" she said quietly. Because of their close proximity, the words would have sounded as clear as fire engines, yet he showed no response.

"…Sebastian?" Mai called out. "Do you still have that short rope?"

"Yes. What do you want with it?" Was the swift reply. So helping, unlike some people.

"…And is there some kind of tea scooper in that pack?" Mai asked, knowing the answer already.

"let's see…yes…right here…"

Mai grinned. Naru looked at her from the corner of his eye. Subtle curiosity sparked in its blue depths.

"What are you planning?"

Mai's grinned widened. "It's your turn to watch and learn, Baka."

"Tie the scoop to the rope and through it near the soil around the trees, scoop that soil towards you."

Sebastian tied the two together, and threw the small scoop long enough to get to the soil beyond. As he pulled the rope back, the scoop came with it, picking up the soil. As the soil ladened utensil came towards them, the black ooze withdrew sharply.

"What in the name of …?" Sebastian said wide eyed. The ooze began to repel from the soil, and it felt a few inches had retreated back into the ground. Mai smiled, it's just like before…

"…unbelievable…" Naru murmured.

After a few more throws of the ladle, and another 30 minutes, they were knee deep in ooze -Enough for them to waddle out to the sidelines.

After they had gotten out, they immediately started to clean themselves using various techniques – mostly scraping and wiping. During this time, Naru moved in on Mai, brushing closely against her ear.

"Give me an acceptable explanation."

"N-Not so close!" Mai said, finally being able to withdraw a little away from him. She was only neck deep in the ooze how.

Naru withdrew his head with a cool, yet interested expression. "how did you know it would do that…?"

After a few breaths Mai pointed to the soil.

"It can't stand that stuff. I don't know why. It happened to me before when I went head to head with a tsunami of this garbage."

The area that they had been sequestered in had dirt, not the rich soil layer around threes. There was a patch of dirt, and a few trees off to the right. Piles of brown rich soil were in dense regions around the tree.

"Ah." Naru said, instantly understanding the situation. The piles of soil had been the layer that he and Sebastian kicked aside earlier when they were trying to examine earth underneath.

"So it's the soil that is saving us!" Sebastian said happily, "we're okay as long as we stay on this! If only Mr. Wang could hear about this kind of thing…!"

Naru continued to stare at the soil with the jigsaws twirling around his head. Mai looked at him intently, as she scraped more sludge off her body.

"What? Spit it out! That expression makes me queasy…" Mai trailed off.

Naru examined the area once more, and pointed to the dirt. "This material can ward off the sludge, but it won't be able to protect us from anything else. If what you told me earlier is true," he said, eyeing Sebastian, "It will work both ways. This layer probably can serve as a wall to guard from spiritual auras and energies to be detected through. It is most likely this mundo has a network balance between the upper ground and the lower ground. If we face any hostiles, the side with that can perceive what's on the other will gain the upper hand."

Mai kicked a bit of soil in with her foot, enough for it to sprinkle around the ooze. Taking a bag she found in Naru's pack, she put a bit of dirt in it.

"Weapon of choice?" Sebastian said, with a slight smile. Awed at her ingenuity when most people would want to get the hell away from the whole area, and run screaming to safety.

"Let's call it a precaution." Mai replied back, filling the bag with more dirt. "if we come agains this demonic ooze again, we'll have a way out." In the next moment, Sebastian left to go look for Mika, and Mai was left alone, filling a bag of dirt with Naru.

With one hand, she took the bag, and tried to ziplock it with her teeth, since her bad arm (at best) was throbbing with pain. During the time of complete panic, she had forgotten her bad arm entirely. (Now the pain had multiplied with the recent amount of sudden movements) As the bag slided against her teetch, a small rip in the bag made her taste dirt, thus stopping the zipping the process.

Mai hissed a curse at that moment but knew that the pain was tolerable.

Feeling a touch on her arm, she was again abruptly face to face with the blue-eyed baka scientist.

All Mai could think about was how embarrassing it looked to try to ziplock a bag with one hand, fail, and literally eat dirt. Despite her mild mortification, Naru gently pulled the bag away from her, sealed it, and threw it into his pack –within seconds. Mai could not help but feel a little envious of his mobility, as her bad arm swayed pathetically at her side.

"Thanks…" Mai began, but immediately stopped as Naru began to take bandages out of his pack to re-dress her arm. "It's ok Naru…I can do that…"

Naru gave her a warning look, and continued to dress her arm in silence. Mai, feeling her mortification rise, looked away, mumbling how they should get back to camp.

Mai looked back up to see Naru concentrated on the dressing. Except for that one incident where Naru had brought her tea, this was the first time he took the effort in caring for her in such close contact. It was almost comical to Mai to see her usual stoic boss trying so hard to at a task. After all, it wasn't like he had the practice for this kind of thing. Most likely Lin, Takigawa or Ayako would be doing it in such a situation…

After a few moments of a somewhat pleasant silence, Naru withdrew his hand and Mai had a newly protect arm from infection. Mai gave an inward sigh from the loss of contact.

"We should be getting back." Naru said while turning away from her. Pleasantries over, Naru had gone back to being the cold egotistical bastard that was his number one charm. Mai mentally kicked herself for being the one that continued to chase after him…always, always, seeing his back, never quite keeping up, even after all the years they've worked together.

"Thanks." Mai said softly, as she followed a few steps behind.

What she didn't see was the slightly clenched hands as he strode away from her.

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A/N: story will spiral into more intrigue for the next chapter! Lin and Kana showdown? Will Ayako and Takigawa find their way into the interim mundo? What will come out of the Mai-Naru dynamic in the forest?

Muahaha! Coming soon in the next chapter.


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